Maputo, 21 Jan (AIM) – Unidentified assailants on Saturday morning kidnapped a prominent businessman, 70 year old Mohamed Calu, outside his home in central Maputo.
According to the independent television station STV, Calu was abducted as he was leaving his house, and going to the establishment he owns, the Atlantico Comercial warehouses.
Calu’s bodyguards put up a fight, and the kidnappers shot two of them. The criminals grabbed their victim and dragged him over to their vehicle, firing more shots to dissuade any would-be rescuers from approaching.
This was in broad daylight, and was caught on film, since somebody with a camera filmed the entire incident from one of the surrounding apartment blocks. The shocking footage was shown repeatedly on television news throughout the day.
The police did not arrive at the scene until an hour after the crime – even though Calu’s home, on Ho Chi Minh Avenue, is only a few minutes walk from the Maputo City Police Command and from the Ministry of the Interior.
When they did appear the police, quite illegally, prevented one of Calu’s bodyguards from speaking to the press. Instead, this witness was quickly driven away in a vehicle of the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic).
This is the second time Calu has been kidnapped. The first occasion was in 2011, when he was one of the early victims of the wave of kidnappings that hit Maputo and other Mozambican cities.
Last Tuesday, at around midday, members of the public aborted an attempted kidnapping. They threw stones and bottles at the would-be kidnappers, forcing them to abandon their intended victim.
Unfortunately for Calu, there were very few passers-by on Ho Chi Minh Avenue early on Saturday morning.
(AIM)
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