Mozambique: Businessman Junaide Lalgy escapes kidnap attempt in Matola – reports

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Businessman Junaide Lalgy escapes kidnap attempt in Matola – reports

9:56 CAT | 09 Nov 2023

Photo: Anti-Raptos Beira

Mozambican businessman Junaide Lalgy escaped an attempted kidnapping yesterday (08.11) after leaving a mosque in the city of Matola, Maputo province, MZNews reports.

According to MZNews, the owner of the Lalgy transport company and the Black Bulls soccer club found his car blocked by two others. When he realized the situation, he did nothing but accelerate his car , driving head on into one of the cars blocking his, not stopping and managing to escape the blockade.

Faced with the situation, Lalgy preferred to wreck the car in order to escape the attempted kidnapping and his vehicle was damaged.

The information about the kidnapping also appears on the Facebook page ‘Anti-Raptos Beira’,

On the morning of November 28, 2019, Junaide Lalgy’s son Shelton Lalgy was kidnapped in Matola. The father put 20 Volvo trucks and their trailers up for sale to pay his son’s ransom.

READ: Shelton Lalgy released from captivity two months after being kidnapped

Healer and serviceman arrested in connection with the abduction of Lalgy’s son – Noticias

MZNews reports that ransom of an unknown amount was paid for Shelton Lalgys release and that four people were arrested in connection with the case, including a woman and a member of the Armed Defence Forces of Mozambique.

‘Escaped a chase’

Meanwhile, the police today said, cited by Lusa, that Lalgy was the target of a chase by unknown individuals, on Wednesday, in the city of Matola, having managed to escape to his company.

“Intentionally, [the people who persecuted Junaide Lalgy violently collided with the vehicle in which the victim was transported” and, “subsequently, the criminals violently collided with a fence where the vehicle was immobilised”, reads a police statement.

The perpetrators of the chase abandoned their vehicle and fled, according to the note.

After the incident, the victim filed a complaint at the 1st Police Station of the Republic of Mozambique, in the city of Matola, reads the note.

The police say that efforts are underway to identify and hold the perpetrators accountable.

Juneide Lalgy, 58 years old, owns the Black Bulls, a team from the first division of Mozambican football and with a championship title in this competition, and also a well-known road transport company, with a considerable fleet of heavy vehicles.

Nine days ago, a 26-year-old Portuguese-Mozambican woman was kidnapped by three armed men in Maputo, the country’s capital, as she left her home.

In contact with Lusa on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) in the city of Maputo said that “work is still being done” to clarify the case, saying that it is “still premature” to provide any information. about the young woman’s abduction.

READ: Just In: Woman kidnapped on Paulo Samuel Kankhomba, central Maputo – Watch

Also on Wednesday, the director of Sernic, Nelson Rego, reiterated that the institution is “determined” to create a unit specialized in combating kidnappings, warning of the need to “purify” the police ranks.

“In relation to the crime of kidnapping, we reiterate our determination to create a specialized unit to deal with this type of organized crime and the need to reinforce collaboration mechanisms with economic associations and the community in general”, said Rego, during a meeting with the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) of Mozambique, which took place in Inhambane, south of the country.

Some Mozambican cities, mainly the provincial capitals, have been affected again since 2020 by a wave of kidnappings, mainly targeting businesspeople or their families.

The Prime Minister of Mozambique, Adriano Maleiane, announced in parliament last May that the agents who will work in a special unit to combat kidnappings that affect the country’s main cities have already been selected.

“The first phase, already completed”, of the creation of the unit to combat kidnappings, “consisted of the selection of agents” and the next stage will be the specialization of the staff and will have the support of cooperation partners, he then specified.

According to a report presented by the head of the Mozambican Government at the time, since 2021, 28 cases of kidnapping have been registered in Mozambique, of which, “15 have been fully clarified”.

Source: MZNews / Lusa