Mozambican police have arrested two people suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of a seven-year-old child this week in Maputo, southern Mozambique, a source from the National Criminal Investigation Service (Cernic) said Friday.
The men, aged 21 and 26, were arrested early Thursday in the Zona Verde area of Matola, on the outskirts of Maputo, at a house where the child was being held, said Hilario Lole, Sernic’s spokesman in the city.
“These individuals demanded money from the family for the release of the child,” Sernik’s representative said, noting that the child was kidnapped on Wednesday as he was leaving school.
Hilario Lole said one of the arrested suspects was the boyfriend of the child’s mother, adding that an investigation was underway to find a third person involved in the kidnapping.
“It is necessary to draw the attention of the public to be very vigilant because, in the wave of kidnappings that has engulfed the city of Maputo and the entire country, opportunistic people have emerged who are posing as kidnappers or adopting this practice to commit similar crimes (…) crimes,” the representative concluded, calling on the public to cooperate.
Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi told parliament on Wednesday that the country had recorded 22 kidnapping crimes since January 2023, and in his latest address to the nation, he expressed regret for leaving the problem completely unresolved.
“It is worth saying here: have we solved the problem of kidnappings? No. But we are fighting kidnappings to the best of our ability,” the head of state said, presenting for more than three and a half hours the annual report on the General Situation of the Nation.
According to Nyusi, of the 22 registered crimes related to kidnapping, at least 11 have been solved, with the victims released, including eight during police operations, 53 people involved in the crime have been arrested, and four captives have been released.
By March, Mozambique police had recorded a total of 185 kidnapping cases and at least 288 people had been detained on suspicion of involvement in the crime since 2011, the interior minister said earlier.