Cross-border cooperation between SA and Mozambique could curb escalation in kidnappings

Kidnapping for ransom has been rife in Mozambique for almost two decades. Asian businessmen or their descendants and relatives are the most common targets. Victims tend to be taken in broad daylight and held captive for weeks or months, released only when the ransom — sometimes millions of dollars — is paid. Victims are often tortured if payments are overdue, and sometimes killed, as happened recently to a Maputo businessman.

Mozambique’s police haven’t been able to curb the crime. In 2022, 12 cases were recorded and at least $35-million was paid in ransom. These cases represent a slight decline from 15 in 2019 and 18 in 2020, but are still high by continental and southern African standards.

In the absence of an effective policing response, kidnappers have grown bold, expanding their operations into neighbouring South Africa, where some ringleaders are believed to be based. A joint operation by the South African Police Service and Interpol led to the arrest of suspected kidnap kingpin and Mozambican businessman, Esmael Malude Ramos Nangy, in January in Gauteng province. Should similar joint actions be used in Mozambique?

Presenting the 2021 Annual Report on the State of Judiciary, Attorney General Beatriz Buchili listed the constraints investigators and prosecutors face in handling such cases. These include kidnappers’ ‘sophisticated methods’ such as using digital communication platforms to plan and execute abductions and ransom collections. She said ransom payments are made through transactions outside the country.

According to Buchili, Mozambique doesn’t have access to mechanisms facilitating international cooperation and information exchange on cybercrime. Maputo has not signed or ratified the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, or joined the Egmont Group — an international organisation linking national financial intelligence units to facilitate the investigation and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

But these omissions don’t account for the country’s failure to pursue cross-border cooperation on kidnapping. Mozambique has ratified the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, and mutual legal assistance with other countries is possible. Even without any of these formal agreements, ad hoc cross-border cooperation could take place. 

The most worrying problem Buchili mentions is these criminals’ infiltration and manipulation of criminal justice institutions, a key feature of organised crime in Mozambique and worldwide. This feeds a culture of impunity. Several reports show the involvement of Mozambican National Criminal Investigation Service agents in kidnapping, proving the involvement of organised crime groups who probably work with government contacts.