Mozambique police say they have arrested another man in connection with Maputo kidnappings

The National Criminal Investigation Service of Mozambique (Cernic) announced this Friday the arrest of another member suspected of belonging to the group involved in the kidnapping of a businessman almost a week ago in Maputo.

According to information provided to journalists by Sernic’s representative in the city of Maputo, Hilario Lole, he is one of the “informants” of the group, and his arrest took place after an operation by these forces that led to the dismantling of the group earlier in the week. The place where the businessman kidnapped in the center of the capital last Saturday was being held captive.

“One of the pieces of information we have at the moment is that this person followed the victim who was kidnapped on July 20 and provided coordinates of her movements, entry and exit from the establishment,” Lole explained.

On Tuesday, Sernik already announced the arrest of another person suspected of involvement in two kidnappings that took place in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, one of which took place on Monday.

“Yesterday we managed to arrest [segunda-feira] “The man involved in the June 26 kidnapping of a businessman who managed to escape from captivity,” said Hilario Loulé, Cernic’s representative in the southern Mozambican city of Maputo.

The man is also suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of a businessman that took place on Monday evening between avenues Martires da Machava and 24 de Julio in central Maputo, the spokesman said.

Hilario Loulé added that the victim would be sent to the same prison where another businessman was held in June after he was forcibly seized by a group of six armed men, also in central Maputo, and had managed to escape in the meantime.

“They realized that we had already dismantled the captivity and we had nowhere to live. [prender a vítima]After some hard work with them, they managed to free the victim of yesterday’s kidnapping. [segunda-feira] and that he already lives with his family,” added Sernik’s representative.

Last Saturday afternoon, the businessman’s son was kidnapped on a central avenue in Maputo, and a Mozambican policeman was killed in the shootout.

Hilario Lole said there was evidence that the man arrested was also involved in Saturday’s kidnapping, the victim of which has still not been partially identified.

Almost 150 businessmen have been kidnapped in Mozambique over the past 12 years and hundreds have fled the country out of fear, according to figures released Thursday by the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), which says it is time for the government to say “enough”.

“They are already on their way to 150. More than a hundred have left the country. We are not talking about those who held administrative or managerial positions, if we count them, there are many more. We are talking about those who occupied the capital.” “They were shareholders of companies,” Pedro Baltasar, president of the CTA’s security and private protection department, told a press conference in Maputo.

“Some 12 years after the first kidnapping, we believe that the government has enough time to apply pressure in a more pragmatic way to end this evil. Therefore, we reiterate the need for the government to take these measures proposed by the private sector,” the CTA leader said, acknowledging the impact of “billions of dollars” on the country’s economy and employment.

By March, Mozambique police had recorded a total of 185 kidnapping cases and at least 288 people had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the crime since 2011, the interior minister said.

Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi acknowledged this month that kidnappings remain a problem in the country and asked police to identify their “masterminds”: “Bring in just one mastermind and you will see that the narrative will change because the people responsible are very scared, we just need to take certain measures and they will soon run away.”