Photo: Interpol Maputo — Another businessman of Asian origin was kidnapped in Maputo, on Tuesday, in broad daylight, in the coastal neighbourhood of Triunfo.
The victim, named only as Arquiissandas, is the owner of the Hariche Group, one of the 100 largest companies in Mozambique.
This kidnapping, unlike all the others that have of occurred since the start of the wave of abductions in late 2011, was caught on film. The drama was filmed by a surveillance camera on the victim's house. The family gave the footage to the police, and also to the independent television station STV.
The film shows Arquissandas drive his vehicle into the yard of his house. Before the electronically operated gates can close a gang of four men, some of them armed, run up from the coast, enter the yard and seize their victim. A getaway vehicle drives up to the gate, and the gang drag the struggling Arquissandas into it. This chain of events took less than a minute.
It is not clear whether the quality of the film is good enough to allow the police to identify any of the kidnappers.
The spokesperson for the Maputo City Police Command, Orlando Mudumane, confirmed that the police are studying the surveillance footage. It is not yet known whether the kidnappers have contacted the family with demands for a ransom.
In October, three other businessmen were kidnapped in Maputo. One of them, who owns a bottle store in the plush neighbourhood of Polana, has been in the hands of his kidnappers for more than 40 days.
