Kidnapping of 53-year old albino man thwarted – Tete, Mozambique

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Kidnapping of 53-year old albino man thwarted – Tete, Mozambique

8:08 CAT | 11 Feb 2016

In file Club of Mozambique.

A 53 year old albino man escaped an attempt to kidnap him on Saturday in Angonia district, in the western Mozambican province of Tete.

According to the police, the victim, Chalosse Chindambuquina, was seized when he was attempting to buy goods from a stall in the Angonia region of Zulu, on the border with Malawi. There are allegedly Malawian witch doctors interested in buying albino body parts for use in superstitious ritual. The body parts of albinos are supposed to possess magical qualities.

It was the owner of the stall Luniasse Kassamba who seized Chindambuquina, and locked him in the stall. But he neglected to remove the victim’s mobile phone. From the improvised prison, Chindambuquina phoned relatives, who in turn contacted the police. They immediately sent officers to the stall who rescued Chindambuquina, and arrested Kassamba.

“The owner of the stall locked his client up, and nobody knows for what purposes”, said the spokesperson for the Tete provincial police command, Luis Nudia. “To find out why, we have arrested Luniasse Kassamba”.

Nudia praised the cool-headed courage of the victim and the cooperation of his family. “This is how people should work with the police”, he said. “Then we will be successful in seeking and detaining criminals”.

He hoped the arrest of Kassamba will shed light on earlier abductions of albinos in Tete. This case was unusual in that the victim was an adult – in five earlier cases, from December to February, in Marara, Moatize and Angonia districts, the victims were all albino children. The kidnappers have not been caught, and the whereabouts of the children are unknown.

The latest successful kidnap also occurred on Saturday, in the Benga region of Moatize. Six armed men burst into a house and abducted a seven year old albino child.

Source: AIM