The group abducted and amputated the fingers of at least two people, demanding cash payments from the families of the victims using videos filmed in the forests of the border region between Mozambique and South Africa, a police source said.
“The incident took place in South Africa, and the victims are Mozambicans,” said Luce Carminea Leite, a police spokesman for the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in the province of Maputo.
In videos circulating on social media, the kidnappers force the victims (a man and a woman) with their fingers already cut off to ask for money in a message addressed to relatives, while threatening them with a machete in the face.
Without giving details, PRM said the victims were released and arrived in Mozambique on Friday, with one of them taken to hospital by authorities.
“We are in contact with the South African side that is investigating this case, and from our side we have accepted the victims. We also registered the incident and took one of them to the hospital,” Karminia Leite concluded.
Due to its economic stability at the regional level, South Africa is one of the countries receiving the largest number of immigrants from various African regions, but mainly from neighboring states, including Mozambique.
More than two million Mozambicans live in South Africa, working in mines, agricultural fields and informal trade, according to the latest figures provided by the authorities.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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