Mozambique: Two police officers arrested on kidnapping charges

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Mozambique: Two police officers arrested on kidnapping charges

1:47 CAT | 07 Jun 2022

Photo: Noticias

Two officers from Mozambique’s Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) have been arrested on charges of kidnapping and fraud in Mogovolas district, Nampula province, a spokeswoman for the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) has said.

Enina Tsinine told a press conference that the agents kidnapped two brothers and held them captive for four days until receiving 10,000 meticais (€140.00) ransom each.

The accused hid the victims in a residence in the city of Nampula, the provincial capital, Tsinine said. They initially demanded a ransom of 100,000 meticais (€1,466.00), but failed to get that amount after “prolonged negotiations with the family”.

In addition to the two UIR officers, three other people involved in the kidnapping have been arrested.

Some Mozambican cities, mainly provincial capitals, have since 2020 again been hit by a wave of kidnappings, targeting mainly businesspeople or their families, but in this case the victims were not wealthy, but people from poor neighbourhoods.

In an assessment presented at the beginning of June, Mozambique’s Attorney General, Beatriz Buchili, said that kidnapping was on the increase, and the criminal groups involved had cross-border connections, maintaining cells in countries such as South Africa.

According to Buchili, 14 cases of criminal kidnapping were recorded in 2021, as compared to 18 in 2020, but other cases escape official accounts, and in most of these the outcome is unknown.

In November 2021, the Police of the Republic of Mozambique announced the formation of a force specifically designed to respond to this type of crime, the officers of which are to be trained by Rwandan specialists.

Source: Lusa