Mozambique's Attorney General, Beatriz Buchilli, said today that magistrates and investigators are being the target of "intimidation attempts", especially those who are involved in cases linked to crimes of terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as in the recovery of assets in these cases.

At the opening of the meeting of the Central Offices for Combating Corruption, Organized and Transnational Crime and Asset Recovery, Beatriz Buchilli, quoted by VOA, encouraged "magistrates and other colleagues not to be intimidated, to remain firm in fulfilling their mission of fighting organized crime" and assured that the PGR "will not allow crime to continue to take lives and squander resources, making national development impossible".

"We would like to use this podium to share that, as a result of our actions, we have been recording attempts to intimidate magistrates and investigators," said Buchilli, who also warned that the country is experiencing "the emergence and growth of new criminal phenomena of a complex, organized and transnational nature, which challenge the Public Prosecutor's Office to improve prevention and combat strategies."

Before all these challenges, the PGR pointed out that the lack of specialized human resources and asset recovery offices has been a major challenge in the fight against crime.

Meanwhile, at the same meeting, the deputy director of the Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC), Eduardo Sumana, reported that the country had recovered more than 2.9 billion meticais (46 million dollars) in 11,000 cases against corruption, terrorist financing and money laundering in the last ten years, the Public Prosecutor's Office announced today.

Eduardo Sumana added that in the last 10 years, the Mozambican Public Prosecutor's Office has processed 11,030 cases in this area, of which 10,403 have been resolved, corresponding to 94%, 83 vehicles have also been seized and 56 properties recovered.