Mozambique: SERNIC presents alleged kidnaper to media – AIM report

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Mozambique: SERNIC presents alleged kidnaper to media – AIM report

4:08 CAT | 20 Jul 2022

FILE - Illustrative photo. SERNIC spokesman, Hilario Lole. [File photo: DW]

Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) on Tuesday presented to the media an alleged member of the kidnap gang who abducted businessman Ahmed Anwar on 30 June.

Anwar was kidnapped in the vicinity of the Maputo hotel that he owns. This was the second attack against Anwar. Almost exactly a year ago, on 1 July 2021, there was a failed attempt to kidnap Anwar.

According to a report in the independent newssheet “Carta de Moçambique”, Sernic spokesperson Hilario Lole told the reporters that the man now under arrest (who was not named) had been involved in both crimes.

In the 2021 attempted kidnapping, two people were arrested, one of whom pointed Sernic towards the man who allegedly ordered the abduction “and who is the individual we are presenting today”.

When he was arrested this man was in possession of eight mobile phones and 11 SIM cards, On one of these cards was a phone number mentioned in connection with the 2021 attempted kidnapping.

“There is evidence pointing to the involvement of this individual in planning kidnappings that have occurred inside Maputo and outside the city”, said Lole.

The suspect was also in possession of 11 passports under various names and travel documents for three people who are currently outside the country.

Lole added that the suspect is the brother of a man wanted by Sernic in connection with the kidnappings, but who is currently not in Mozambique.

Meanwhile, in the central city of Beira, the Sofala provincial court on Tuesday sentenced Fatima Chossano to 30 years imprisonment for kidnapping two children.

According to a report in the daily paper “O Pais”, she had kidnapped the children, one aged three and the other aged seven, in the Beira neighbourhood of Munhava on two different dates in late 2021. Chossano demanded a ransom of 50,000 meticais (about 780 US dollars) for each child.

After negotiations, the parents paid 20,000 and 25,000 meticais to recover their children. A police investigation followed, leading to the arrest of Chossano. She confessed to the kidnappings but the court did not regard this as an extenuating circumstance.

In addition to the 30 year prison sentence, judge Martinho Mucheguere ordered Chossano to pay compensation of 200,000 meticais to the two families.

Mucheguere said the court had opted to impose the maximum penalty, in order to discourage future kidnappings. “This is the only weapon we have to discourage this kind of situation”, he added. “Kidnapping is a very humiliating way of treating a human being”.

Source: AIM