Maputo, 4 Sep (AIM) – The provincial Attorney’s Office, in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula, is investigating a case in which a customs officer was illegally detained for refusing to take “superior orders” of a senior official who wanted to take a car seized by the authorities.
The customs officer concerned, Alirio Joao, cited in Wednesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, accused the Secretary of State for Nampula, and former Defence Minister, Jaime Neto, of ordering his arrest for the crime of disobedience.
He was held for 48 hours in the cells of the Nampula Provincial Police Command.
According to Lucinda da Fonseca, the spokesperson for the Nampula Provincial Attorney’s Office, the accusation against Alirio Joao dos not meet the definition of “disobedience”.
“When the Public Prosecutor’s Office made this finding, it immediately ordered that the citizen be released and that the case file be closed, under the terms of the criminal procedure in force in Mozambique”, she said.
The incident took place last Saturday, at Checkpoint Number 1, a few kilometers from the centre of Nampula city, on the main north-south highway (EN1), when the customs officer noticed the presence of an individual who intended to take photographs of some cars that had been apprehended.
The officer, in line with standard customs procedure, refused to allow the individual to take the photo. But then the unnamed individual made a call, supposedly to a higher authority in Nampula province. The “higher authority” asked to speak to the customs officer, but he refused to take the call.
As a result of the refusal, the officer was illicitly detained by officers of the Protection Unit for High Ranking Individuals (UPAI).
“The Attorney’s Office is investigating in order to find out what ‘higher authority’ ordered the illegal detention of the customs officer without proof that a crime of disobedience had been committed. Depending on the results of this investigation, criminal proceedings may be opened against this person”, Fonseca said.
(AIM)
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