Police investigating if Pakistani fishermen found adrift off Beira are connected with Cabo Delgado insurgents – report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Police investigating if Pakistani fishermen found adrift off Beira are connected with Cabo Delgado insurgents – report

1:22 CAT | 05 May 2020

Photo: O País

Mozambican police have not ruled out the possibility that the alleged Pakistani fishermen found adrift near the city of Beira about five days ago were collaborating with the insurgents destabilising Cabo Delgado and say investigations into the case are ongoing.

Sofala PRM commander Paulik Ucacha said on Monday that, since the discovery of the 10 supposed Pakistani fishermen about 20 miles from the city of Beira last Thursday night, the police and other fisheries sector institutions had been investigating the origin of the vessel and its crew.

First statements made by the crew indicated that the boat was damaged, and they requested fuel from the crew of a Mozambican fishing boat that approached them at about 1:00 p.m. last Thursday.

The crew of the drifting bow at first refused to be rescued to the city of Beira and asked for fuel, but the Mozambican ship-owner refused to give it to them, and finally managed to convince them to be towed to the fishing port of Beira.

Investigations are taking place, and the police are not ruling out the possibility that the group are possible collaborators of the Cabo Delgado insurgents, claiming there are indications that their boat is not purely a fishing vessel.

“The 10 occupants of the vessel are being investigated. We want to find out the real causes that contributed to them stopping on the Mozambican coast. We want to know if they are actually fishermen who were victims of a storm, as they say, or if they have something to do with the Cabo Delgado insurgents, or whether they are traffickers,” Commander Ucacha said.

He was speaking at a press conference for the emergency Covid-19 committee, where the Sofala governor Lourenço Bulha was updated on measures taken to counter the spread of the disease.

The Pakistani crew was screened for Covid-19, and their craft is currently isolated to avoid accidental contact with Mozambican nationals.

By Francisco Raiva

Source: O País