A National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) agent named Dick Manhiça, who was being held in the Maximum Security Prison, known as the BO, has been missing since December 25, 2024.

Their whereabouts have been unknown since the "alleged" mass escape of more than a thousand inmates from Cadeia Centra and B.O. on December 25, 2024. In the aftermath, around 104 inmates in the two prisons.

According to the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD), on the day of the escape, Dick Manhiça informed his brother that he was the victim of a death threat. The phone call was abruptly interrupted before he could provide any more details.

"In the days that followed, family members tried to visit him in the penitentiary, but were prevented from seeing him. Initially, the authorities informed them that Dick Manhiça was still in custody and that, due to security measures, visits were temporarily suspended. However, as time went by and after repeated attempts to obtain information, the relatives were surprised by a new version that Dick Manhiça was no longer in the prison cells. What alarmed the family most was the fact that Dick Manhiça's name appeared on the official list of escaped prisoners released by the National Prison Service (SERNAP) on December 31. According to the SERNAP communiqué, Manhiça was among the escapees," writes the CDD.

To date, no explanation has been provided by SERNAP or the Interior Ministry as to Manhiça's location. The obscure circumstances surrounding his disappearance reinforce suspicions that he may have been the target of a clandestine operation to eliminate him, due to his investigations into crimes involving influential figures in the country, noted the Civil Society Organization.