Nigeria ( Commonwealth Union ) _ In Mozambique, kidnappings for ransom have been common for almost 20 years. The most frequent targets are Asian merchants, or their children and relatives. The majority of times, victims are abducted in broad daylight and held hostage for several weeks or months before being freed in exchange for ransom, which can reach millions of dollars. If payments are overdue, victims are frequently tortured and occasionally killed, as happened recently to a businessman from Maputo.
The police in Mozambique have failed to stop the crime. In 2022, 12 incidents were registered and at least US$35 million was paid in ransom. These instances still reflect a high number by continental and Southern African standards, albeit they have slightly decreased from 15 in 2019 and 18 in 2020.
Kidnappers have become more daring, expanding their activities into neighboring South Africa, where several ringleaders are thought to be based, in the lack of an effective police response. Esmael Malude Ramos Nangy, a suspected kidnapping mastermind and businessman from Mozambique, was apprehended in January in Gauteng province as a result of a joint investigation by the South African Police Service and INTERPOL.
Attorney General Beatriz Buchili noted the challenges faced by investigators and prosecutors when presenting the 2021 Annual Report on the Status of the Judiciary. They include the “advanced procedures” used by kidnappers to organize and carry out kidnappings and demand ransom payments. She claimed that transactions outside of the country are used to pay ransoms.
Buchili believes that Mozambique lacks access to systems that enable international coordination and knowledge sharing on cybercrime. Maputo has not joined the Egmont Group, an international organization that links national financial intelligence units to ease the investigation and prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing, nor has it signed or approved the Budapest Agreement on Cybercrime.
These omissions, however, do not explain why the nation has not attempted to explore cross-border cooperation on kidnapping. The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime has been adopted by Mozambique, and other nations may offer Mozambique mutual legal aid. Ad hoc cross-border collaboration could happen even in the absence of any of these formal agreements.
Because there is no reliable deterrent in Mozambique, syndicates can flourish. State agencies have probably been compromised by organized crime organizations because they have been unable to successfully infiltrate them. Recruitment into crime networks is simple for police officers who are underpaid, underequipped, and unmotivated. The payment of bribes by applicants to police training institutions supports a corrupt culture.
The law enforcement agencies of Mozambique are notoriously dishonest. According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, police aid in kidnappings, give kidnappers high-level protection, and lend firearms to kidnapping gangs.
Nangy’s arrest doesn’t seem to be the product of a concerted plan against organized crime, even though cross-border police collaboration between South Africa and Mozambique would help both nations combat kidnappings. Instead, it was a singular incident in response to a Mozambique Public Prosecutor’s arrest request. The warrant was carried out by INTERPOL agents and South Africans.
