Maputo — The kidnappers of Mozambican businessman Rachid Takdir, owner of the Takdir take-away restaurant in Maputo, have demanded a ransom of a million South African rands (about 112,000 US dollars) for his release, according to a source in the Maputo moslem community, cited in Tuesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”.

The kidnappers have demanded that the money be paid in South Africa. It was also in South Africa that the ransom was paid that secured the release of a previous kidnap victim, Imtiasse Golam, one of the owners of the Hotel 2001 hotel in Maputo, and of Golam Motors, a company specializing in the import of vehicles and spare parts.

According to “O Pais”, the kidnappers have been threatening Takdir’s family, warning that if they cooperate with the police, they will never see Takdir again.

Takdir was kidnapped by a group of six men on Friday night, after leaving a mosque in central Maputo. The kidnappers were clearly well organised – they used three vehicles and wore police uniforms.

On Monday, the spokesperson for the Maputo City Police Command, Orlando Mudumane, claimed that the police had clues about the case, and boasted that the kidnappers would soon be arrested. But he gave no details.

“All the operational lines have been activated in order to clear up the case”, he said. “We want to calm people and assure them that the police are working intensively, we think it not opportune to give more details about this case”.