Mozambique: Beira police with no leads in kidnapping of commercial establishment manager

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Mozambique: Beira police with no leads in kidnapping of commercial establishment manager

1:43 CAT | 18 Aug 2020

File photo: Social Media

Police in Sofala still have no leads in the kidnapping in Beira on Saturday of the manager of a commercial establishment, Rádio Moçambique reports.

The 35-year-old Mozambican, son of a prominent businessman of Asian origin, was kidnapped on the street in the early evening by four armed individuals.

The kidnappers were travelling in a light vehicle.

Daniel Macuácua, spokesman for the provincial Police Command in Sofala, said that an investigation was underway, with the priority discovering the victim’s whereabouts.

This is the third case of kidnapping in Sofala province this year, after a period of relative calm.

The kidnapping

A businessman was kidnapped on Saturday night near his residence in the city of Beira, in central Mozambique, a source of the Mozambican police told Lusa.

Rajiv Nitin, 35, was abducted at about 6 p.m. local time (5 p.m. in Lisbon) in the Maquinino neighbourhood near his residence, said Dércio Chacate, spokesman for the police in Sofala.

The businessman, who was accompanied by his wife, was reportedly intercepted by four people after parking his vehicle in the building where he lives, having been threatened and forced to enter another vehicle that was on the scene, according to police.

“Besides kidnapping the man, they took his wife’s purse, she saw everything,” the spokesman added.

The kidnappers, who are believed to have been waiting for the victim at the scene used blunt instruments and a gun to threaten the businessman, according to police.

The police said investigations are already underway into the case and that they are at an advanced stage, coordinated by the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic).

“The work is underway to neutralise individuals, to recover the victim and to seize the weapon and vehicle in their possession,” Dércio Chacate said.

Since the beginning of 2020, the Mozambican authorities have recorded a total of nine kidnappings, whose victims are always businessmen or their relatives.

Of the cases registered this year, two victims were rescued by the authorities in Maputo, and a third victim was released in conditions still to be clarified.

Among the businessmen rescued by the police is the Indian philanthropist Rizwan Adatia, who spent 21 days in captivity in Boane district, southern Mozambique.

Source: Rádio Moçambique / Lusa