Mozambique: Kidnappers demand ransom in crypto, informal means – Top Public Prosecutor

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Mozambique: Kidnappers demand ransom in crypto, informal means – Top Public Prosecutor

6:11 CAT | 20 Apr 2023

Image. Assembleia da República

Kidnappers in Mozambique are demanding the payment of ransom in the form of cryptocurrency or informal means in order to make it more difficult for them to be tracked down and arrested, the country’s attorney general, Beatriz Buchili, said on Thursday in parliament.

Criminals “have resorted to various schemes, inside or outside the country,” Buchili said on the second day of the presentation to members of parliament of the annual report on the activity of public prosecutors, relating to 2022.

Payment methods used include cash, cryptocurrency and ‘hawali’ – an informal means of payment involving intermediaries that is widely used by Muslims – Buchili said.

She noted that those who order and carry out kidnappings resort to forms of ransom payment that are outside the control of banking institutions, to make it more difficult to prevent and combat this type of crime.

On Wednesday, the attorney general had said in parliament that the country’s justice system last year put 41 defendants in preventive detention and released three who were allegedly involved in kidnappings, and stressed the “sophistication and complexity” of this type of crime.

Buchili said that last year 15 formal criminal investigations were started related to kidnapping – almost the same as in 2021, when 14 cases were started.

She noted that perpetrators now opt to hide their captives in “prime areas of the cities” rather than on the outskirts, in an attempt to throw off the authorities.

She reiterated the allegation she had made in 2021 that there are magistrates, lawyers, police investigators and policemen involved with groups of kidnappers.

Source: Lusa