Suspected kidnapper arrested
A 43 year old man (whose name was not released) has been arrested in Maputo in connection with the kidnapping of Jahyr Abdula, the son of a prominent businessman, in South Africa in 2021, reports Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily, “Noticias”.
The Maputo city spokesperson for the Mozambican police, Leonel Muchina, told the paper that the victim was the son of Salimo Abdula, the former chairperson of the Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA).
Muchina said “the son of the Mozambican businessman was intercepted by individuals who had been watching him while he was participating in a wedding ceremony in the South African city of Benoni”.
They were disguised as South African police officers. They seized Abdula and took him into captivity.
The malnourished Abdula was found by the genuine South Affican police in Heidelberg, 37 days after he was abducted.
Police said he and a friend had arrived in Johannesburg from Mozambique in a three-vehicle motorcade on 15 October, when they were pulled over by people driving a blue BMW sedan fitted with blue lights and sirens. They were then taken from their motorcade and held captive.
One suspect was arrested at the time. A South African police spokesperson said “we “are intensifying efforts to arrest the remaining suspects. We will leave no stone unturned up until we have all suspects in police custody.”
Muchina told “Noticias” that four suspects have been arrested and efforts are under way to arrest other members of the kidnap gang.
He said that the detention was the result of actions undertaken by the Mozambican police “and other national and foreign forces in order to clear up the crime and locate the other fugitives”.
The man detained, who is now being held in a Maputo police station, denied all involvement in the kidnapping. He said he works as a salesman in a car wash company in South Africa.
He admitted knowing the other people detained, but denied participating with them in the abduction.
