More on businessman Manish Cantilal’s kidnapping in Maputo – AIM report

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More on businessman Manish Cantilal’s kidnapping in Maputo – AIM report

8:11 CAT | 21 Feb 2020

Picture: CCTV footage / Screengrab

The Mozambican police confirmed on Wednesday that unknown assailants kidnapped businessman Moniz Carsane (better known as Manish Cantilal) on Tuesday night at the entrance to his home in the inner Maputo neighbourhood of Alto Mae.

According to Leonel Muchina, spokesperson for the Maputo City police command, surveillance cameras showed that the masked kidnappers snatched Cantilal immediately after he had parked his car in the building’s garage.

“The kidnapping occurred at 23.00 when he was about to enter the house”, said Muchina. “A group of four kidnappers, armed with a pistol, intercepted the victim moments after he had parked his car. They seized him, put him into another vehicle and made off”.

Muchina said he could give no further details, because the matter is now in the hands of the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC).

Sobre o rapto do empresário Moniz Carsane, mais conhecido por Manish Cantilal, na noite de ontem, Cidade de #Maputo. #Mocambique pic.twitter.com/pchxr92zt6

— Alexandre (@AllexandreMZ) February 19, 2020

Cantilal’s friend and business partner, Dino Foi, writing on his Facebook page, said those who ordered the kidnapping “must think he’s rich. He isn’t and neither am I. We are just two young men who simply believe in a better Mozambique”.

Cantilal and Foi are the owners of the new “El Patron” restaurant on Julius Nyerere Avenue in central Maputo.

According to Foi, Cantilal inherited a family company that used to sell cassettes and later DVDs. He was also in the business of selling pre-paid mobile phone cards. “He’s a young man who thinks it’s possible to do things”, Foi said. With the new restaurant, “we are so clear in our goals that all the banks are willing to enter any project we bring”.

In 2014, the police accused Cantilal of being a member of a kidnap gang, involved in four kidnappings, and he was kept in preventive detention for 45 days. The judge in charge of investigating these cases, Dinis Silica, was assassinated on 8 May 2014, but, according to Cantilal’s lawyer, Damiao Cumbane, prior to the murder, Silica had agreed to Cantilal’s release on bail of about a million meticais (15,500 US dollars at current exchange rates).

Shortly after his release, Cantilal said he was entirely innocent and had been set up by the true organisers of the kidnappings, who were also responsible for the murder of Silica. He challenged the authorities to present any evidence of his involvement in such crimes.

He said he had received death threats inside and outside prison, and had been advised to leave the country.

His case never came to trial. Foi says he was “completely cleared” by the Attorney-General’s Office.

Source: AIM