Watch: Latest Maputo businessm

Watch: Latest Maputo businessman kidnapped on Sunday night

Another Maputo businessman has been kidnapped, reigniting the concerns about the city’s safety, that has made headlines in recent months.

Watch: Latest Maputo businessm

A group of criminals has kidnapped a Maputo businessman, Arvin Kumar, at the weekend according to a report by the Club of Mozambique. 

The website cites an article by Notícias which reports that Kumar was kidnapped on Sunday evening.

 “According to Notícias, the businessman’s wife was injured during the incident. The abduction took place on Rua Fernandes Farinha, in Maputo city,” the site reported.

Yusuf Abramjee Tweeted about the incident and shared the following video, purported to be related to the kidnapping. Watch the video here:

Responding to the video @Bongink42929099

Tweeted: “I’m sorry to say this, Mozambique is nothing but a failed state. The Frelimo government has failed the Mozambican people, a change of government is necessary.”

@mashalapercy responded “Are we safe here in South Africa can we trust our troops at the borders?”

@FraudWatchZA added: “The ISIL and kidnappings shall finish off the nascent LNG business of Mozambique.”

According to a report by the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, in October statistics showed that 100 people have been kidnapped in Maputo and 14 in Beira in the past two years.

The agency was reporting on an announcement by local business people that they were protesting “a spate” of kidnappings in the city.

“We want a city in Beira free from kidnappings, but also an entire Mozambique free from this type of crime,” Zeyn Badati, a representative of the business community told the media at the press conference.

According to  Xinhua, Badati said that the high number of kidnappings had negatively impacted the local business environment, leading to “many investors leaving the country and billions of meticais that would otherwise be invested in normal economy flowing into the industrialised organised crime”.  

The demonstration dubbed the “Beira Anti-kidnapping Movement” is the second of its kind in the country, the first held in Maputo in 2013 that brought together thousands of protesters, Xinhua reported.