Mozambique: Terrorists kill members of local militia
The Sofala Provincial Court, sitting in the central Mozambican city of Beira, on Friday sentenced two men, Moniz Bambo and Ibraimo Dias, to 16 years imprisonment for their part in a spectacular robbery in May 2017 in which 29 million meticais (about 482,000 US dollars) was stolen from the Beira headquarters of Mozambique’s largest commercial bank, the Millennium-BIM.
According to the report on the trial in the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the court found that Bambo had acquired uniforms of the private security company G4S which the two men used when they robbed the bank. He was assisted by his cousin Ismael Macorreia, who is now on the run. He was sentenced, in absentia, to a jail term of one yea and eight months.
The robbery was planned in the house belonging to a further suspect, Fernando Abubacar, who is also on the run.
The court found that Bambo used some of the stolen money to purchase two vehicles, which were sent to his brother-in-law n Zambezia province.
At the time, eye-witnesses to the robbery said it was committed by five men wearing uniforms and masks, who attacked a truck carrying money just as it arrived at the Beira BIM headquarters. The cash had been collected from other BIM branches in the city.
Ibrahimo Dias confessed to the robbery, but Bambo protested his innocence and plans to appeal. His lawyer admitted that he had made contacts to obtain G4S uniforms “but didn’t know what they were to be used for”.
Bambo, Dias and Macorreia were also sentenced to compensate the bank to the tune of 12 million meticais.
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