Mozambique: SERNIC investigates Belo Horizonte kidnapping

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Mozambique: SERNIC investigates Belo Horizonte kidnapping

3:08 CAT | 14 Aug 2020

Photo: Social Media

A customs clearance entrepreneur was kidnapped in Maputo province on Tuesday night, a source from the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) told Lusa on Thursday.

Artur Magaia, owner of ”Empatel Serviços Aduaneiros’, was reportedly intercepted at around 7:30 p.m. by two vehicles, and forced out of his vehicle and into one of the alleged kidnappers’ cars, SERNIC provincial director Benjamina Chaves said.

“Everything indicates that he was coming home from work. The kidnappers abandoned the businessman’s car on the spot,” Chaves said, adding that steps were being taken to locate the victim and hold the alleged kidnappers accountable.

The case occurred in the Belo Horizonte neighbourhood, a prime area of Matola-Rio, Boane district, Maputo province, where the victim lives.

Since the beginning of 2020, the Mozambican authorities have recorded a total of eight abductions, all of businessmen or their family members. Of the cases recorded this year, two victims were rescued by the authorities in Maputo province, and third was released in conditions still to be clarified.

The police rescued two businessmen on May 20 – the philanthropist Rizwan Adatia, who was kidnapped on April 30 and held in captivity for 21 days in the district of Boane, and Manish Cantilal, who was kidnapped on February 18 and found in Matola municipality, on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital.

Source: Lusa