Mozambique: At least three kidnap victims have returned home

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Mozambique: At least three kidnap victims have returned home

1:45 CAT | 14 Jun 2022

File photo: Notícias

At least three of the five kidnap victims who were being held captive in Mozambique have returned home, the commander-in-chief of the Mozambican police announced yesterday.

“Since last week, three of the abduction victims have returned to their families, with just two remaining,” Bernardino Rafael said during a visit to Palma, in Cabo Delgado province.

In May, the commander-general said that five of the six people kidnapped in Mozambique in the first quarter of the year were still being held captive.

Bernardino Rafael believes that the “pressure that the police are exerting” means the remaining victims will also soon return home, clarifying, however, that this is not a “victory”, since the kidnappers may be planning fresh abductions.

“This is not a victory; there is still a great challenge ahead to prevent and combat kidnappings,” he stressed.

Last Friday, police told Lusa that the 19-year-old daughter of a businessman from the city of Beira, central Mozambique, had already returned home after being kidnapped on May 19.

The abduction had taken place during the day in a busy area, as the victim was buying food at street stalls next to the Catholic University of Mozambique, where she is a student, when strangers armed with a pistol abducted her in a car.

In April, the son of a businessman in the commerce sector was kidnapped near his home close to the Presidency of the Republic in Maputo.

Between February 7 and 12, two businessmen were kidnapped, also in the Mozambican capital. In both cases, the kidnappers were armed.

In an assessment of crime presented earlier this month, Attorney General Beatriz Buchili said that kidnapping crimes had been increasing and that the criminal groups involved have cross-border connections with cells in countries such as South Africa.

According to Beatriz Buchili, 14 criminal kidnappings were registered in 2021, against 18 in 2020, but there would be cases which escape official accounting.

The attorney general also said that the “abduction victims” are “constantly blackmailed” by their kidnappers after being released, aggravating their feeling of insecurity.

Source: Lusa