Mozambique: Police appeal for witnesses to kidnapping in Chimoio on Saturday

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Mozambique: Police appeal for witnesses to kidnapping in Chimoio on Saturday

6:20 CAT | 26 Apr 2021

Photo: Miramar

Mozambican police in Manica still have no leads in the kidnapping on Saturday of the son of a bakery owner and have asked for the cooperation of the public, a source at the corporation said on Monday.

Depesh Ramesh, 49, son of a businessman from Chimoio, the capital of Manica, was kidnapped by a group when he locked his car after arriving home at 6.30 p.m. (5.30 p.m. in Lisbon), a witness reported to Lusa on Monday.

“We have confirmed the abduction of a citizen of Indian nationality by an unknown party and are on the ground to neutralise this group of kidnappers,” said Mário Arnaça, Manica police spokesman, and acknowledged the difficulties in dealing with organised crime.

“We want the public to come forward so that we can clarify this case,” he said, referring to reports of captivity or suspicious movements.

The unknown group fired two shots in the air before kidnapping the victim, whose house is just a few metres from Manica Provincial Police Command (PRM) and the first police station in Chimoio.

In Chimoio alone, this is the fourth case in the last two and a half years, and the victims have returned home without police intervention after payment of ransoms, according to other local businessmen who showed solidarity with the victim’s family.

A witness told Lusa that the kidnappers arrived at the site a few minutes before the victim arrived and remained seated in their car, without arousing suspicion.

“The victim arrived and went inside the building, but then came back because he had forgotten to lock his car then this group appeared and grabbed him taking him by force into a grey vehicle that drove off at speed,” the guard of a nearby shop told Lusa.

This month, three other people, a businessman and two relatives of businessmen were kidnapped in public – two cases in Maputo and one in Quelimane, central Mozambique.

Mozambique’s president Filipe Nyusi, announced in December the possibility of creating an anti-kidnapping unit to combat the crime wave, with 16 cases registered in 2020 alone.

The CTA – Confederation of Business Associations of Mozambique, the country’s largest employers’ association, has also demanded on several occasions a severe fight against this type of crime.

Source: Lusa