Mozambican police arrest three suspects in kidnapping of two-year-old child

Mozambican police have arrested three people suspected of kidnapping a two-year-old child in Dondo district, in the Sofala province, central Mozambique, a company source said this Friday.

The detainees “are accused of committing the crime of kidnapping a child under two years of age and depriving him of his liberty in the Ceramika district, in the city of Beira,” the press secretary of the National Criminal Investigation Service, Alfeu Sitoe (Sernik), told the media. ) in Sofala.

The three suspects, aged between 21 and 32, were detained Thursday at their home after receiving part of the money demanded from the child’s parents for his release, Sernik’s spokesman said.

“To put pressure on the family to pay the ransom amount, [um dos detidos]Using duct tape, he wrapped a knife around the minor’s body, took photographs and published them on social networks,” said Orfeu Sitoe.

Among those detained is a woman who allegedly took the child, the daughter of traffickers, to Dondo on June 9 to her home in Beira, the provincial capital, where she was held captive.

The Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) have recorded a total of 185 cases of kidnapping and at least 288 people have been detained on suspicion of involvement in this type of crime since 2011, the interior minister said in March.

A wave of kidnappings in Mozambique has affected businessmen and their families, especially those of Asian descent, which authorities say needs to be addressed.

Most kidnappings committed in Mozambique are carried out outside the country, making it difficult to combat this type of crime, the republic’s prosecutor general, Beatrice Buchili, told parliament in April.

Most of the executives live in South Africa, according to Mozambique’s attorney general.