31 people were arrested for kidnapping in Mozambique last year.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said this Wednesday that the country arrested 31 people on kidnapping charges last year, while Maputo is seeing a new wave of these crimes.

Speaking at the opening of the coordination council of the Ministry of the Interior in Maputo, Filipe Nyusi reported a reduction in kidnappings in six cases, as well as the resolution of three cases and the arrest of 31 people accused of it. crime, decontamination of captivity and rescue of two victims.

“Criminals are not produced by the police, these criminals are produced by society, but when they appear, the task of the police is to be ready and expose them,” Nyusi said.

“Since the last coordinating council, about a year ago, this sector has made remarkable progress,” Mozambique’s head of state said in the same speech, reporting a “reduction in crime of 666 cases,” which he said was “not the norm.” small”.

He added that last year police forces had “dismantled 951 gun crime gangs” across the country.

The city of Maputo has been experiencing a new wave of kidnappings for several weeks, especially of businessmen: last month, two Portuguese of Mozambican origin were targeted, and agents linked to the police investigation were also suspected of being involved in this type of crime.

The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) confirmed this Thursday to Lusa that the Consulate General of Maputo is monitoring the attempted kidnapping of a Portuguese-Mozambican national that occurred on Monday, the second case in a month.

“The Consulate General in Maputo is monitoring the situation regarding the attempted kidnapping of a Portuguese-Mozambican citizen. The Mozambican authorities have taken responsibility for the incident,” an official source told MNE in response to Lusa’s question.

A Portuguese-Mozambican businessman was shot and killed by unknown assailants who tried to kidnap him on Monday in the center of Maputo, a crime that was averted thanks to the intervention of the public.

“Four men armed with a pistol and an AKM assault rifle tried to kidnap a shop owner early Monday evening in the city of Maputo, but due to the victim’s resistance and the intervention of members of the public, he was shot in the leg,” said Leonel Muchina, a police spokesman in the Mozambique capital.

The kidnapping was foiled by members of the public who pelted stones at the criminals and they fled, Muchina added.

In another case, a group of three armed men kidnapped a 26-year-old girl of Portuguese and Mozambican origin on the morning of November 1 as she left her home in Maputo, around 7:50 a.m. local time (5:50 a.m. local time). Lisbon) with the intention of going to the gym, as Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) spokesman Lionel Muchina told Lusa on the day of the abduction.

“The situation is being monitored through diplomatic and consular posts in Maputo, which are in contact with the family,” a Foreign Ministry source previously told Lusa.

However, the young Portuguese-Mozambican woman will remain in captivity until this Wednesday.

Last week, six people were arrested for their suspected involvement in the attempted kidnapping of Mozambican businessman Junid Lalji on November 8, as previously reported by the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernik).

Sernica’s spokesman in Maputo province, Enrique Mendes, said six men faked a traffic accident to ram Lalji’s car and try to kidnap the businessman.

On the 17th of this month, a Mozambican businessman associated with the automotive sector was kidnapped by unknown assailants in the city of Maputo.

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. .