Maputo, 23 Jul (AIM) – Unidentified criminals on Monday night kidnapped yet another businessman of Asian origin in central Maputo.
This was the second kidnapping in the city in the space of three days.
According to a report in the independent daily “O Pais”, the businessman (whose name has not been revealed) was abducted inside his own shop, a bottle store.
Three armed men invaded the shop and dragged its owner out to the getaway vehicle, where two more members of the kidnap gang were waiting.
The police told reporters that investigations are under way to hunt down the criminals responsible, not only for this kidnapping, but also for the one that took place on Saturday afternoon.
The difference between the two kidnappings is that on Saturday an exchange of fire occurred between the kidnappers and the police, in which one police agent was killed.
The two kidnappings look like a deliberate response to last week’s call on the police by President Filipe Nyusi to introduce new strategies to arrest the masterminds of the kidnap gangs.
Speaking last Wednesday in Maputo, at the opening of a meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Ministry of the Interior, Nyusi was clearly irritated that to date not a single kingpin in the kidnap gangs has been arrested and presented to the public.
“Kidnapping is still a challenge for our National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic)”, said Nyusi. “Bring us at least one of those who is ordering the kidnappings!”.
It seems that the kingpins were listening, and the two kidnappings since the President’s speech are their response.
The central Maputo areas where these crimes occurred are the most heavily policed parts of the country. The kidnappers appear to be demonstrating their impunity, as if they are convinced that the police cannot touch them.
(AIM)
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