A group of seven agents from Mozambique's migration services, assigned to Manica province, were arrested and taken hostage in a gold mine in Zimbabwe, after allegedly trying to extort the Chinese operator.

According to witnesses cited by Voice of America (VOA) this Monday (17), the incident took place last Thursday (13), and the seven migration agents, linked to the Ministry of the Interior, were released the following day, after diplomatic negotiations between Maputo and Harare.

The Mozambican agents drove to Zimbabwe in a police vehicle and crossed the border at the Machipanda Administrative Post, through the Penhalonga area, an area rich in gold and with intense mining activity on both sides of the border.

At the Nhamucurara mine (on the Zimbabwean side), about four kilometers from the border marker (E6), it is suspected that the seven agents, including two women, tried to extort a Chinese citizen with Mozambican papers, who immediately called the Zimbabwean police, who arrested the Mozambican officials.

In the photos circulating in the Mozambican press and on social media, you can see the seven agents, dressed in reflective migration vests, handcuffed and surrounded by armed civilians.

According to the same VOAThe Manica Migration Services spokesman, Abílio Mate, canceled a press conference on the incident, initially scheduled for this Monday (17), and declined to comment.

However, a report by the joint commission sent to investigate the incident concluded that the agents of the National Migration Service (SENAMI) had entered the Zimbabwean mine without permission and were assaulted by the mine's security guards for being overzealous. However, there was no extortion.

This is the second incident involving agents of the Mozambican defense and security forces with mining operators.

On June 6, a group of four Mozambican soldiers, armed and dressed in civilian clothes, invaded a mining cooperative in the district of Gilé, in the Mozambican province of Zambézia, and destroyed camps, as well as stealing fuel and precious stones.

The invaders had initially only been identified as armed men, when it was later discovered that they were soldiers belonging to a unit in Zambézia.