Mozambique: Armed group loots Quissanga district headquarters - Lusa
In file CoM
The National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) in Maputo province last night arrested three suspects in the kidnapping and murder of Portuguese citizen José Paulo Antunes Caetano.
Data in possession of Noticias indicate that last Friday (the 9th) José Caetano was contacted by a person who invited him to go to inspect an earth-moving machine. From there he left with the individual and did not return, being found dead a day later in an abandoned quarry in Moamba, Maputo province. The victim’s body had wounds to the neck suggesting that he had been struck with a sharp instrument.
After his disappearance, the family were contacted by the kidnappers demanding payment of a ransom for his return, and 900,000 meticais and a BMW vehicle belonging to the victim were handed over to the criminals in Maputo.
The SERNIC investigation also culminated in the recovery of the BMW from a cache in the Massinga district of Inhambane province.
Of the three detained, one has confessed to the crime.
A mini-bus which had just been acquired with part of the 900,000 meticais ransom was seized from one of the suspects, along with two cell phones belonging to the deceased, incontrovertible evidence of the suspects’ involvement in the crime.
SERNIC was already on the trail of the gang, two of whom already have criminal records, and which specialised in vehicle theft and kidnapping in Maputo province.
SERNIC thinks that, with the arrest of the three suspects, it has solved not only the Caetano case but also of two other 2017 kidnappings in Maputo – those of a South African and a Turkish citizen.
SERNIC has been recommending that citizens actively collaborate with the authorities in helping solve crimes, and says that everything possible is being done to expedite investigations and provide a secure environment.
Two weeks ago, SERNIC carried out an operation called DUBAS1, which culminated in the recovery of 24 vehicles stolen in Maputo.
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