Police claim to have evidence to clarify kidnapping of businessman in Maputo

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Police claim to have evidence to clarify kidnapping of businessman in Maputo

12:31 CAT | 18 Nov 2020

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [in file CoM]

The National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) said yesterday that it has evidence to clarify the abduction of a Mozambican businessman on Monday in Maputo.

“Sernic is working on the basis of the information collected on the spot and we now have evidence [based on CCTV surveillance] which may allow us to apprehend the perpetrators of this crime,” Sernic spokesperson in Maputo Hilário Lole said

The victim, a businessman linked to the Beira-based Uzeir Trade Centre group, was snatched by armed men as he was approaching a barber shop located in a mixed office and housing building in the centre of Maputo on foot after leaving his chauffeured vehicle.

The assailant forced the businessman into a car carrying three a further armed accomplices.

The incident comes less than a week after the kidnapping of a 27-year-old Portuguese woman in Matola on Monday of last week. She was released on Thursday night, a source close to the family has told Lusa.

Since the beginning of 2020, Mozambique has recorded a total of 11 abductions, all of businesspeople or their immediate family members.

In October, a group of businesspeople in the city of Beira, Sofala province, closed down for three days in protest against the wave of abductions in the country.

The Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), the largest employer association in the country, has on several occasions demanded a more effective response to kidnapping, and even President Filipe Nyusi has called for the same.

Source: Lusa