The four men were charged with kidnapping Jose Moreira Alves, owner of the building company Jomofi Construcoes, in the outlying Maputo suburb of Costa do Sol in April 2012, and Jainudin Norudini Dali, owner of the Lafoes bakery, at the entrance to his house, in central Maputo in December of that year.
Alves was kept prisoner in the Maputo neighbourhood of Magoanine. The kidnappers telephoned his family and demanded a ransom of two million US dollars. When they were told that the family only possessed 300,000 dollars, they accepted this sum. They also stole 28,000 dollars that Alves was carrying in his car.
As for Jainudin Dali, the kidnappers stole 1,000 dollars from him plus three credit cards. They obliged him to give him the PIN numbers, and then made repeated withdrawals from his accounts.
The gang phoned Dali’s daughter, and demanded a ransom of a million dollars. They warned her not to involve the police, otherwise her father would be killed.
That same day, the family managed to scrape together 600,000 meticais (about 19,700 dollars). The kidnappers demanded in addition at least 200,000 dollars, claiming it was “not normal” to pay ransoms in local currency. In the cases of both Alves and Dali, the dollars were left at a place stipulated by the kidnappers on the Maputo campus of the Eduardo Mondlane University.
The court sentenced Remane Abdul Remane, regarded as the leader of the gang, to 18 years. He was accused of selecting the victims, and of providing the vehicles used in the kidnappings. Gipson Carlos was also given an 18 year sentence, while Jafar Malache and Momad Amobe, were sentenced to 14 and eight years respectively.
The four were also ordered to repay the ransoms and the other money stolen from their victims. They must pay Alves 302,000 dollars and 100,000 meticais. Dali should receive 201,000 dollars and 910,000 meticais. As compensation for the non-material damage caused by the kidnappings, the victims should receive a further 51,000 meticais.
Alves tried to drop the case against the kidnap gang because he had received threatening phone calls. The court could not accept this request because the case was not a private law suit – it was not Alves and Dali who had taken the kidnappers to court, but the Mozambican state through the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Post published in: Africa News
As these kidnappers ruined the businesses these directors had built up, and consequently the lives of all the workers, and their families and children, and untold anguish and having been proven and admitted to the crime of kidnapping, they should have got the death sentence. Kidnapping is a serious crime and just as serious as people smuggling across borders. It is inhuman. In 8-18 years time they will be released and having had time to recognise where they went wrong with their planning, they will be on the loose again to repeat the crime of kidnapping. Only this time more efficiently.
As these kidnappers ruined the businesses these directors had built up, and consequently the lives of all the workers, and their families and children, and untold anguish and having been proven and admitted to the crime of kidnapping, they should have got the death sentence. Kidnapping is a serious crime and just as serious as people smuggling across borders. It is inhuman. In 8-18 years time they will be released and having had time to recognise where they went wrong with their planning, they will be on the loose again to repeat the crime of kidnapping. Only this time more efficiently.