Mozambique police foiled an attempted kidnapping in Maputo on Friday, an operation that culminated in the death of the suspect and the serious injury of a corporate agent, an official told Lusa.
The incident occurred at around 20:00 (19:00 Lisbon time) on Friday when an armed man tried to kidnap a shopkeeper near gas stations in the Organization of Mozambican Women (OMW) square, an upscale area of the Mozambican capital.
“His movement inside the store aroused the distrust of the workers, who immediately called the nearby police. And as he approached, this man immediately pulled out a firearm and shot the employee (…) In response, this man was shot,” said Leonel Muchina, spokesman for the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in the city of Maputo.
According to the source, the suspect died in the central hospital of Maputo, and the wounded policeman with a chest wound was hospitalized in the same department in serious condition.
“The bullet that hit our officer in the chest also hit part of his lung and exited through his back,” a Mozambican police spokesman explained.
The suspect has not provided any identification, but authorities believe he is a South African citizen.
“We believe he is a South African national. He spoke only Zulu (a South African language),” he added.
The incident comes after a group of six people kidnapped another businessman in Maputo on Wednesday morning, between Karl Marx and Ho Chi Minh avenues, in the city centre.
“The victim of Wednesday’s kidnapping returned to his family on Friday,” Leonel Mukhana said, without giving details.
A wave of kidnappings in Mozambique has hit businessmen and their families, particularly those of Asian descent, in what authorities say is a case for reflection.
Since 2011, according to data provided by the Minister of Internal Affairs in March of this year, the DRM has recorded a total of 185 cases of kidnapping and more than 288 people have been detained on suspicion of involvement in this type of crime.
“Everything indicates that the city of Maputo has the highest trend and number of criminal cases of kidnapping, followed by the province of Maputo and finally Sofala with a record of 103, 41 and 18 cases respectively,” Pascoal Round said at the meeting time .
Most kidnappings committed in Mozambique are staged outside the country, especially in South Africa, making it difficult to combat this type of crime, the republic’s attorney general, Beatrice Buchili, told parliament in April.
Most of the leaders live in South Africa, according to Mozambique’s attorney general.