Mozambique: Another businessman kidnapped in central Maputo - AIM report
Folha de Maputo
A 21-year-old man has been in custody since Monday (28 Novmeber) for his alleged involvement in the murder of a Portuguese national Joaquim Cavaco Malagueira on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital.
According to Maputo police spokesman Orlando Mudumane, police believe the crime was perpetrated by three individuals, two of whom are still at large, but that the suspect had been working for the victim for more than a year and that there were “strong indications” of his connection with the crime.
Cláudio Langa, a spokesman for the PRM General Command, said in a routine press briefing that the young man being held “lives in the Xipamanine neighbourhood and has confessed”.
The police confiscated 11,000 meticais in the suspect’s possession, presumed to be compensation for the murder or stolen from the victim, in addition to a mobile phone, a camera and several of the businessman’s belongings, including articles associated with the deceased’s profession – the rental of sound and light equipment for shows.
The accused, Leonel, says he only witnessed the crime, and denies any participation in the death of Joaquim Malagueira in Maputo’s Bagamoyo neighbourhood on the night of 23 November.
He claims that one of his supposed accomplices was holding a pistol-type firearm but fails to clearly explain why he left Xipamanine to go to the house of the deceased on the night in question, or clarify his relationship with the fugitives.
“He (one of the murderers) left the pistol on the bed and tied Mr Cavaco up. Then he threatened me and sent me for insulation tape. I found the tape and gave it to them, but one of them pointed the gun at me again, threatening to kill me,” the suspect said.
The accused claimed that the bandits said that if he yelled for help or tried anything he would be killed, and Malagueira begged him, apparently the only one of the group he recognized, to untie him.
“I said okay, I am going to untie you but when I went to do it my cousin pointed the pistol at my head and in the end I did nothing,” the accused said.
Then, someone knocked on the door and he went to see who it was. When he got back, the old man was already tied up and thrown into the bath tub.
“We believe there are accessories to this crime,” spokesman Mudumane said.
Joaquim Malagueira, who was more than 70 years old, lived alone and met his death at home. He had been based in Mozambique for about a decade.
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