Mozambique: Businesspeople call for energetic measures to stop kidnappings

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Mozambique: Businesspeople call for energetic measures to stop kidnappings

8:41 CAT | 28 Dec 2022

Screen grab: Miramar

The Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), Mozambique’s largest employers’ association, has called for “energetic measures” from the Mozambican authorities to stop kidnappings in the country, in a reaction to the death of a kidnapped businessman in Maputo.

“We condemn, as CTA, this act and once again ask the authorities that energetic measures be taken to stop these macabre acts,” said Vasco Manhiça, vice chairman of CTA, during a press conference on Tuesday.

The CTA expressed “feelings of sorrow” to the family of the businessman, considering that the kidnappings “undermine” the “business environment” in Mozambique.

The Mozambican authorities on Tuesday announced the detention of a suspect involved in the crime.

The body of the businessman, who was kidnapped over a week ago, was found on Tuesday in Txumene, in the southern province of Maputo, with injuries and signs of aggression, but the authorities warned it was premature to put forward a specific cause of death.

The man was abducted on 14 December in front of one of his commercial establishments in Matola municipality by an armed group.

A video captured by surveillance cameras at the scene of the crime shows the exact moment when the group, composed of four men, dragged the businessman into a vehicle in broad daylight.

Maputo and other Mozambican cities, mainly provincial capitals, have again been the scene of a wave of kidnappings since 2020, targeting mainly businessmen or their relatives.

Mozambique has recorded 13 kidnappings this year and 33 arrests linked to the crimes, according to the latest data advanced by the national criminal investigation service (Sernic).

In an assessment of criminality, presented at the beginning of June, Mozambique’s Attorney General, Beatriz Buchili, said that kidnapping crimes have been increasing and criminal groups have cross-border ramifications, maintaining cells in countries such as South Africa.

She said there were victims who were “constantly blackmailed”, even after their release, into paying money to ensure they would not be kidnapped again.

Source: Lusa