A Mozambican businessman was kidnapped again in central Maputo during a shootout on the street.

According to several sources, a Mozambican businessman, the first known kidnapping victim in Mozambique in 2011, was kidnapped again this Saturday in Maputo by a group of four men who fired several shots on public roads.

The fact of Luse’s abduction has already been confirmed by an official source in the police of the Republic of Mozambique in the city of Maputo, who leaves other information for later. However, CCTV footage released shows the businessman being kidnapped as he left the building in his car at around 7:30 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. Lisbon time).

The same images show that a group armed with firearms fired several shots on a public road, Ho Chi Minh Avenue, in the city center, despite opposition from security guards and the presence of people nearby. .

The victim, who was dragged into the kidnappers’ car, is one of the owners of Armazéns Atlântico, who escaped captivity after being kidnapped in June 2011, the first known case of its kind in Mozambique, other sources indicate.

Last Tuesday, a store manager was shot in the stomach during a failed kidnapping attempt by members of the public who threw stones at the perpetrators, Maputo police spokesman Leonel Muchina told Lusa.

“Unfortunately, the victim was shot in the stomach, but thanks to the actions of members of the public he is out of danger and safe,” said Muchina.

The man suffered an abrasion on his back during the incident, but it was not serious, he added.

A police spokesman said the store manager was leaving the mosque and heading to his place of work on Avenida Filipe Samuel Magaya when three men armed with AKMs attempted to force the victim into the vehicle in which they were being transported. However, the protest was not possible due to members of the public throwing stones and other objects, breaking the car windows.

The three men fled but shot the victim in the stomach and lightly wounded another man, Leonel Muchina said.

The Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), the country’s largest employers’ group, in early November advocated “harsher” prison sentences for kidnappers and no bail in the face of this new wave of cases. stop these crimes. .

A petition launched about a month ago, addressed to the governments of Mozambique and Portugal, calls for measures to rescue captive citizens and urges them to “prevent these victims from falling into oblivion”, and has already attracted more than half a thousand subscribers.

In the early hours of December 18, Mozambique police arrested three people involved in the abduction of a 26-year-old girl of Portuguese origin from Mozambique, who was held captive for 50 days. The victim was abducted from the door of his home in central Maputo on November 1 by three armed men. Portugal’s Foreign Ministry previously confirmed it was monitoring this and another case involving another Portuguese national. – Mozambique, the target of an attempted kidnapping also in the capital, a few days later.

In November, Mozambique’s Central Office for Combating Organized and Transnational Crime (GCCOT) filed charges against three defendants allegedly involved in the kidnapping and death of a 57-year-old man in December 2022. One of the accused, a former member of the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernik), and another an employee of the provincial justice department, were sentenced to 23 years in prison for their involvement in other crimes, including kidnapping, but were acquitted at second instance, GCCOT said. . statement.

Some cities in Mozambique, mainly provincial capitals, have been hit again by a wave of kidnappings since 2020, mostly targeting businessmen or their families.