The General Command of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) presented yesterday (5), in Maputo, an economic agent, a cooking gas reseller, identified only by the name of Yassin, who is suspected of luring young people with money and energy drinks to promote acts of violence, vandalism and public disobedience in the country.

To this end, according to the spokesman for the PRM General Command, Orlando Mudumane, the suspect distributed money to car polishers and garbage collectors who are transported from various points to urban centers via chapas and motorcycle cabs (Txopelas).

"The accused was distributing money on the street to entice young people. In his possession, 82,000 meticais in 200 meticais notes (one dollar equals 64 meticais) and 147 units of energy drinks were seized," said Mudumane.

For his part, the accused, Yassin, refutes the accusations and says that he is only a cooking gas dealer, although he admits that he was caught handing out energy drinks to young people who have been cleaning car windows along Avenida Joaquim Chissano.

"I'm not involved in anything. The truth is, I'm an economic agent, I had that amount, I was under the chair, I'm a gas dealer and I was going to make a payment. There are those kids who clean car windows, on Avenida Joaquim Chissano, I was carrying a carton of energy drinks and three other cartons were behind me and I was giving them to those kids out of pure innocence," said Yassin.

He also said that when the police officers found him distributing energy, they entered his vehicle and confiscated the money he was carrying, worth 350 meticais.

"This amount they're saying they gave me (82,000 meticais) doesn't add up to the truth.

He explained that he was carrying 350,000 meticais, which were confiscated by agents from the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) in plain clothes.

"I'm talking about the Investigation Police, because they're the ones who came to search my car when I took the money," he said.

He explained that he was carrying the money because he wanted to deposit it in the bank. That's why he says he doesn't understand why he was arrested.

Regarding the T-shirt he was wearing with the image of Venâncio Mondlane, the presidential candidate of the Povo Optimista para o Desenvolvimento de Moçambique (PODEMOS) party, the suspect said: "You know what we've been going through lately. We're living in a situation where if you don't wear this outfit you're connoted. I'm not a member of any sister party, I don't support any party," said the suspect.

He added that when the agents confiscated the money he was carrying, they didn't give him an opportunity to present invoices to justify where the money came from.

"Anyone who knows me knows that I don't finance any party, I'm an economic agent, a gas retailer," he said. (AIM)