Two Mozambicans kidnapped in Maputo within the space of an hour on Thursday – Watch

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Two Mozambicans kidnapped in Maputo within the space of an hour on Thursday – Watch

4:12 CAT | 08 Oct 2021

Screen grab: TVM

Two men [a businessman and a doctor] were abducted from different locations in Maputo in less than an hour on Thursday morning (07-10), the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) has announced.

The first victim is a 42-year-old Mozambican man reportedly abducted from the campus of the Eduardo Mondlane University at around 7:00 a.m., SERNIC spokesman Hilário Lole said on Televisão de Moçambique.

The businessman in the commerce sector was in the company of his wife, having just left their children at school, when he was allegedly snatched by an armed group.

“[The couple] were approached by men armed with pistols and an AK47, who fired four shots and dragged the victim from his vehicle to the criminals’ vehicle by force,” Lole related, adding that the wife was not kidnapped.

The SERNIC spokesman said that “several steps are being taken” to return the victim to his family and detain the kidnappers.

Less than an hour later, another man was abducted by armed men from outside his residence on Friedrich Engels Avenue in the Mozambican capital, where several diplomats live, local press quotes the Police of the Republic of Mozambique as revealing.

“I was taking the garbage can out and I saw them [the kidnappers] taking the boss out of the car. I tried to get closer to see what was happening and they pointed a gun at me. I insisted and they pointed it again and then they took him to his car and left,” a witness who works at the victim’s home said.

Last December, the Mozambican president floated the possibility of creating an anti-kidnapping police unit to fight the wave of abductions in Mozambique’s main cities. More than 10 cases were registered during 2020.

The Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) – the country’s largest employers’ association – has on several occasions demand a more vigorous response to this type of crime, which mainly targets businessmen and their families.