Mozambique: Businessman allegedly kidnapped from 8 to 5 over a debt, 4 arrested – reports

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Mozambique: Businessman allegedly kidnapped from 8 to 5 over a debt, 4 arrested – reports

2:53 CAT | 23 Oct 2023

Four people are currently being held in the city of Maputo, accused of kidnapping a 42-year-old businessman of Indian nationality. The alleged objective of the kidnapping was supposedly to collect a debt of around four million meticais ( around 62,237 US dollars, at current exchange rates], O País reports.

According to the same source, the incident happened on Saturday (21-10), when a lady and three men visited the businessman to collect the supposed debt and, according to SERNIC, forcibly took the businessman to a residence in Khongolote, Matola municipality, as a way of putting more pressure on him.

The woman, who says she is a lawyer, denies that she kidnapped the businessman, who is in fact her brother-in-law.

“I did not have any Indian citizen kidnapped. I went to him alone, and on foot. There are cameras at his house, you can see that. I wanted to talk to him and collect the money he owes me and he hasn’t wanted to pay for a long time,” the accused woman said.

SERNIC says the woman ordered the businessman to be kidnapped.

One of the men who participated in the action says he saw the businessman in the car they were traveling in, but did not know it was a kidnapping.

“I don’t know anything, I saw my boss talking to you and, suddenly, they argued, then he got in the car, and we went to her brother’s house to talk,” his account ran.

SERNIC does not clearly explain the circumstances under which the alleged kidnapping occurred, but Hilário Lole, SERNIC spokesperson for Maputo, said that it was with his intervention that the businessman was restored to family life.

“They held the individual from 8:00 a.m. until around 5:00 p.m., when they managed to do so, after allegedly entering into an agreement in which the victim committed to paying the amount within a week. However, we are talking about a case in which all circumstances point to the occurrence of a legal type of crime of kidnapping,” Lole explained,

Lole said that the detainees were approached at around 5:00 p.m. in the Alto Maé neighbourhood, in the company of the victim.

The alleged 36-year-old ‘mastermind’ is quoted by Domingo as saying that there was no kidnapping but, rather, efforts were being made to recover a debt incurred by the victim’s brother, when he was serving a prison sentence in Machava maximum security prison. The said brother is currently resident in India, Domingo adds.

Source: O País / Domingo