Maputo, 13 Aug (AIM) – The Mozambican Minister of the Interior, Pascoal Ronda, has claimed that the accusation against the country’s Intelligence and Security Service (SISE) of favoring political agendas rather than the fight against the kidnappings that have been plaguing the country’s cities was motivated by “emotional reasons.”
The accusation against SISE was made by the Mozambican Islamic Community, last Friday, in Maputo, at a meeting attended by high ranking officials from the Justice Ministry and the Mozambican Police (PRM).
At the occasion, a prominent imam, Nazir Lunat, who once had his father kidnapped, also said that the authorities have no interest in shedding light on the kidnappings because senior state officials are involved with the kidnapping gangs.
“There are some high-ranking officials involved in the kidnappings”, Lunat said.
Reacting to Lunat’s statement, Ronda, speaking to reporters on Monday, in Maputo, claimed there are times when people speak “loaded with emotion because they want a quick response and don’t look at the surrounding factors”.
He said Lunat made his accusations “because he was emotional, because he is worried, and when people are worried, sometime they speak a little louder”.
Ronda declared that the Islamic Community must bring evidence to support its accusation instead of speaking emotionally.
He dismissed claims that the AK-47 assault rifles used by the kidnappers belong to the police, since these weapons are manufactured and sold in many other countries, and “no forensic work has been done to confirm that this weapon belongs to the police”.
But Ronda pledged that, if there are police officers involved in the kidnappings, they will be held accountable “because this is the only homeland we have and it is not worth using our uniform and weapons to harm this country. We don’t gain anything from it.”
Over the last week, the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) claimed it has identified the masterminds of the kidnappings. It said they are Mozambican nationals who are living in South Africa, but it did not name any of them. So far, none of these masterminds have been presented to the public, although the Mozambican authorities claim to be working closely with INTERPOL.
(AIM)
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