Mozambique: Policemen arrested for kidnapping – AIM report

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Mozambique: Policemen arrested for kidnapping – AIM report

4:58 CAT | 19 Mar 2025

Photo: O País

The Mozambican police (PRM) on Wednesday announced the arrests of seven people in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a businessman of Indian nationality in the southern city of Chokwe.

Interviewed by the independent television station STV, the spokesperson for the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) in Gaza province, Zaqueu Mucambe, said that two of those arrested are members of the police force, stationed in Guija district.

The 36 year old businessman (whose name has not been revealed) was abducted by four armed men on Chokwe’s Eduardo Mondlane Avenue on 3 March, at about 20.00.

At the time, the head of public relations in the Gaza police command, Carlos Macuacua, told reporters that the kidnappers grabbed their victim just after he had closed his shop. They fired a shot into the air, and then dragged the shopkeeper into their car.

Mucambe told reporters on Wednesday that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of two million meticais (about 31,000 US dollars, at the current exchange rate) from the victim’s family. It is not yet clear whether any money was paid. What is certain is that shortly after making their ransom demand, the gang murdered their victim. His body was found in a shallow grave, in the locality of Chivongoene, in Guijá.

Mucambe said that three of the kidnappers were detained at their homes on Sunday. They led them to the house in Chivongoenee where they had held the shopkeeper captive – and to the grave where they had dumped his body.

Relatives recognised the body, and a forensic team is inspecting it to determine the exact cause of death.

The police investigations led to the detention of seven suspects in all, including the two Guija police agents. The others detained include business people, mechanics and transport operators. Asked about the motives that led the two police agents to join a kidnap gang, Mucambe said they were driven by “measureless ambition”.

All the suspects, aged between 32 and 45, denied any involvement in the kidnapping. One said “I sell flip-flops in the Chokwe market. I don’t know anything about the crimes they accuse me of”.

Another claimed he was detained “because of a cell phone that was supposedly stolen and used in a crime. I can’t speak about anything else”.

Reporters tried to speak to one of the policemen detained, but he refused to answer any questions.

Sernic says it seized firearms from the suspects, forged documents, and two vehicles used in the kidnapping.