Mozambique: Government says “very intensive” investigation into kidnapping of Portuguese businessman is underway

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Mozambique: Government says “very intensive” investigation into kidnapping of Portuguese businessman is underway

2:15 CAT | 23 Oct 2025

FILE - A Portuguese businessman was kidnapped outside his commercial premises in downtown Maputo on October 7 by four individuals in a vehicle with no licence plate. [File photo: MMO]

The Mozambican Minister of the Interior, Paulo Chachine, guaranteed on Wednesday that there is “very intense and thorough” work underway in the investigation of the recent kidnapping of a Portuguese citizen in Maputo, the sixth abduction this year.

“The investigation is taking place, it is taking place, it is a process. There is very intense work, very thorough work being carried out by the Police of the Republic of Mozambique [PRM] and by the National Criminal Investigation Service [SERNIC], with a view to clarifying this case,” said Paulo Chachine, on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of new PRM commissioners in Maputo.

The matter concerns the kidnapping of a Portuguese businessman outside his commercial establishment in downtown Maputo (Baixa) on the 7th of this month by a group of four people, still unidentified, travelling in a white vehicle without a licence plate. It is the first publicly known case of this type since June.

The minister pointed out that, at this present moment, it is not important to speak about detainees: “The most important thing is the work being carried out with a view to clarifying this case.”

“At the appropriate time, when we have clarified the case, then we will speak about everything, who the detainees are, how many detainees there were,” he added.

SERNIC spokesperson Hilário Lole told Lusa that the abduction had occurred at around 6:00 a.m..

The Mozambican government said on the same day that it had been informed of the kidnapping of the 69-year-old businessman, and was awaiting the action of the security forces, while emphasising progress in controlling this type of crime in the country.

This is the first publicly known case of kidnapping since 21 June, when a Lebanese citizen, owner of a pharmacy, was kidnapped at his establishment in central Maputo.

Mozambican police authorities announced on 12 June that the number of kidnappings in Maputo had fallen by half in the first five months of the year, with four cases, compared to eight cases in the same period of 2024.

In April, the Minister of the Interior admitted that the crime of kidnapping is complex, organised, and transnational, and facilitates capital flight, besides creating feelings of “insecurity”, calling on society to report suspects of involvement.

The Mozambican police recorded, from 2011 until March 2024, a total of 185 kidnappings and at least 288 people detained on suspicion of involvement in this type of crime, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of the Interior.

According to figures released in July last year by the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), which said it was time for the government to say “enough,” around 150 businessmen had been kidnapped over the past 12 years, and 100 had left the country out of fear.

Source: Lusa