Kidnap suspect becomes kidnap victim

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Kidnap suspect becomes kidnap victim

8:14 CAT | 13 Jun 2016

The man kidnapped in the central Maputo neighbourhood of Sommerschield on Thursday night turns out to be none other than Danish Abdul Satar, himself long suspected by the Mozambican police of involvement in the wave of kidnappings that has plagued the country’s main cities since late 2011.

The spokesperson for the Maputo City Police Command, Orlando Mudumane, confirmed the identity of the kidnap victim to reporters on Friday, but could give no further details of the case.

According to eye witnesses, Satar was driving a grey Range Rover with a South African number plate at about 19.00 on Thursday, when his path was blocked by a white Toyota Chaser. A third car, of unidentified make, then quickly drew up behind the Range Rover.

Two men emerged from the third vehicle, fired two shots into the air, grabbed their victim, and dragged him into their car.

Satar was kidnapped only three days after the Supreme Court had ordered his release from preventive detention. Satar’s lawyer had submitted a habeas corpus appeal, arguing that his client had not been formally charged and that the legally permitted period of 90 days preventive detention had been greatly exceeded. Satar had been in detention for 158 days.

Satar was first arrested in May 2012 in connection with the kidnapping of a citizen named Gignissa Mansukulal. On 17 May 2012 he was granted bail, and almost immediately left the country. He was thus regarded as a fugitive who had skipped bail.

It is believed that he spent most of the ensuing three years in Dubai, but in late 2015 he made the mistake of visiting Rome, where the Italian police arrested him. He was extradited to Mozambique on 31 December.

Interviewed by the independent television station STV shortly after his release on Monday, Satar claimed that he had never been involved in any kidnappings, and that the former head of the Maputo branch of the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC), Dias Balate, was responsible for his arrest in 2012. He alleged that Balate tried to extort 100,000 US dollars from him in exchange for his release, which he refused to pay.

As for skipping bail, he claimed that he had gone abroad on his honeymoon, and that nothing n his bail conditions barred him from travelling (this would be most unusual – it is standard procedure that people on bail must seek court authorization before leaving the country, as is the case with the conditions imposed by the Supreme Court on Monday when it ordered his release).

Satar is the nephew of one of the country’s most notorious murderers, Momade Assife Abdul Satar (known as “Nini”), who was found guilty of ordering the assassination, in November 2000, of the country’s foremost investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso.

He was released on parole in 2014 after serving just half of his 24 year sentence for the murder, even though he had not paid any of the compensation to Cardoso’s children ordered by the court.

The court authorized Nini Satar to travel to India for medical treatment. Once outside Mozambique Satar decided he would like to be treated elsewhere, and so he decided to fly to London. He should have reported back to the Maputo Court on 15 April 2015, but did not do so.

He remains in Europe, where he fires off regular tirades on Facebook, denouncing all those judges, lawyers or journalists who have ever crossed his path.

On Friday Nini Satar took to Facebook again, offering a reward for the safe return of his nephew, and threatening dire consequences if any ill should befall him.

“I ask all those who can help locate him to contact me urgently”, wrote Satar. “If it’s money that the kidnappers want, they can contact me”.

However, if they harm his nephew “they will have provoked an unimaginable war”, he declared. From his hideout in Europe, this convicted murderer was threatening to start a bout of gang warfare on the streets of Maputo.

“Whoever did this, I want them to return my nephew, safe and sound”, he added. “I would not like anyone to put my anger to the test. If they do him any harm, they will certainly answer for it. I will find the thugs, even if I have to move mountains”.

Source: AIM