Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) has arrested three people in the southern district of Manica, about 80 kilometres north of Maputo, and accused them of attempted kidnapping.
Sernic spokesperson Henrique Mendes presented the three to reporters in the city of Matola on Monday.
“These individuals belong to a gang that has travelled between South Africa and Mozambique”, said Mendes. “They left South Africa on Friday, with the intention of kidnapping a Mozambican citizen resident in the Manhica locality of Maivene because they had learnt, through the intended victim’s nephew, that he was in the possession of large sums of money from the sale of several head of cattle and some sugar cane”.
But somebody blew the whistle on the gang and Sernic was waiting for them at the order. A Sernic team followed them from the Ressano Garcia border post to Manhica, where they were arrested,
Mendes said there are three other members of the gang who are still at large, and were not in Manhica when Sernic struck. “The leader of the group has been identified, and he was injured in a clash with Sernic in December. However, he managed to escape”, said Mendes.
The three detainees, aged 25, 38 and 48, deny any wrongdoing.
Mendes also told the reporters that on Sunday Sernic seized 50 elephant tusks in Mulotane locality, in Boane district, about 30 kilometres west of Maputo. He said the ivory had been found in an apparently abandoned house.
“The owners of the house were not there”, he said. “But Sernic is continuing to work to locate the owner, and the members of the gang”.
Investigations are under way, in collaboration with the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC), to ascertain where the elephant tusks came from.
For More News And Analysis About Mozambique Follow Africa-Press
