Police detain military officer suspected of kidnapping and robbery in central Mozambique – report

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Police detain military officer suspected of kidnapping and robbery in central Mozambique – report

2:43 CAT | 09 Nov 2020

in file CoM

Police in Manica have arrested a serving soldier and a demobilised soldier on suspicion of being members of a group that kidnapped a Bengali trader and robbed an establishment, a corporation source told Lusa on Friday.

An AK-47 firearm with 27 rounds of ammunition, allegedly belonging to the Armed Forces of Defence of Mozambique (FADM), were also seized, Mozambican police spokesman Mário Arnaça told Lusa.

The military officer, from the fifth Independent Infantry Battalion of Chimoio, and another suspect demobilised from the FADM, were arrested on Thursday in the company of an agriculture civil servant, after robbing a local merchant in the district of Vanduzi, Manica, central Mozambique.

“The police were called after a robbery at the establishment, where they detained three malefactors. Two others fled, ” Mário Arnaça said. “One is a military officer currently serving in the Armed Forces for the Defence of Mozambique, and another is a demobilised soldier.”

The police are continuing to try to identify and detain the remaining members of the group, which shows “strong indications” of involvement in kidnapping of a Bengali citizen in Chimoio, the capital of Manica, on Tuesday November 3.

The whereabouts of the Bengali citizen, kidnapped outside his establishment in Bairro 25 de Junho, a suburb of Chimoio, are still unknown.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that the weapon may belong to the Armed Forces for the Defence of Mozambique,” Arnaça added.

According to the police, the military man was on leave after returning, in August, from active service in Cabo Delgado, a province which has been the stage, for three years now, of armed attacks by forces classified as terrorists.

Source: Lusa / Voa Portugues