Councillor and 13 more suspects reportedly detained over murder of Nampula mayor – Lusa

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Councillor and 13 more suspects reportedly detained over murder of Nampula mayor – Lusa

8:18 CAT | 10 Oct 2017

Miramar (File photo)

Mozambican police in northern Nampula has detained 14 people suspected of killing Mahamudo Amurane, including a councillor and an MDM top official, Lusa learned from witnesses, relatives and journalists today.

Amurane was elected mayor of Nampula, the largest capital city in the north, by the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) and he was killed with three shots on October 4 near his residence in Cotocuane, amidst a conflict with the party led by Daviz Simango.

Initially the police detained as deponents, markets and trade councillor Saide Ali and construction businessman Zainar Abdul Satar, who were with the deceased during the attack. Their detention occurred hours after the assassination, report local newspapers today.

“The councillor has been called as a witness, and now he and Zunair are being accused as accomplices to the murder of his friend, President Amurane,” said a relative of Saide Ali,outraged with the situation, who spoke to Lusa on the condition of anonymity.

Two days after the crime, on October 6, the police made another detention, the MDM’s top official, whose identity was not disclosed, a witness told Lusa.

The next day, while Amurane’s funeral ceremonies were taking place, the police made 11 more arrests, all of them suspected of involvement in Amurane’s death, according to today’s edition of Wampulafax, the oldest local newspaper.

MDM delegate in Nampula city Luciano Tarieque, quoted today in the local press, did not confirm or deny the detention of the members of the third Mozambican political force.

Speaking to Lusa today, Zacarias Nacute, a police spokeswoman in Nampula, said a team of investigators from the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office and the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) are working on the ground to clarify the crime.

“Police will give subsidies as soon as they have the information (on the course of investigations into the death of Amurane),” said Zacarias Nacute, noting that the Police and Prosecutor’s Office “have no control over information on the arrests in Nampula.”

The Nampula City Council declined to comment the ongoing arrests over the murder of the mayor.

Source: Lusa