Mozambican police investigates kidnapping and murder of Portuguese businessman

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Mozambican police investigates kidnapping and murder of Portuguese businessman

3:21 CAT | 12 Nov 2018

File photo: Lusa

The police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) told Lusa today that the kidnapping of a Portuguese businessman found dead on Sunday may have been perpetrated by someone known to the victim.

An account by a women who was his employee indicates that “the kidnapping itself was not violent” and that the businessman probably “felt comfortable dealing with the people who kidnapped him,” said Fernando Manhiça, a spokesman for the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) of Matola, in the province of Maputo.

The PRM was alerted to the kidnapping on Saturday, by a person close to the 51-year-old Portuguese who lived in Mozambique for eight years and provided support to the construction industry, in particular through the rental of machinery.

“We learned [about the case] on the 10th, by a person linked to the victim, about the occurrence of this abduction,” which took place on Friday in Mussumbuluco, located in the Matola area, outskirts of Maputo.

At the time, said the spokesman, police activated the criminal investigation team (Sernic) and began proceedings.

“Unfortunately, at about 2:00 pm on Sunday, the body was discovered in the Moamba area,” in an abandoned quarry with signs of having been struck with a knife in the neck and arm, added Manhiça..

The Portuguese citizen was found after the ransom demanded by his kidnappers had been paid, Secretary of State of Portuguese Communities Abroad José Luís Carneiro told Lusa on Sunday.

Carneiro said that the cases occurring in Mozambique “do not contribute to the confidence of investors in the country” and that Portugal has already expressed “all the availability” to accompany the family in “judicial proceedings that are under way, after complaints were lodged with the Mozambican authorities “who are investigating the case.

Source: Lusa