Citizens involved in kidnapping schemes in the country use bank accounts belonging to family members, legitimate or fictitious companies, to launder money (money laundering) and hide its origin.

According to a report by Mozambique's Financial Information Office (GIFiM), quoted by "Notícias", citizens from crucial sectors of the state structure are involved in this process. These include lawyers, magistrates, members of the Defense and Security Forces, as well as employees of banking institutions.

In these money laundering cases, GIFiM estimates that more than 2.1 billion meticais, around 33 million dollars, have already been traded.

"The concealed circulation of funds in the financial economic system is through checks and various intra-bank and inter-bank transfers, using money laundering, based on trade, without prejudice to other techniques," it reads.

The companies used to launder money are created or controlled by suspicious individuals or groups who make complex movements within the financial system.

In Portugal, the city and province of Maputo, the provinces of Manica, Sofala and Nampula are considered to be the places most prone to this type of illegal activity. And abroad, it found that operations take place to and from the United Arab Emirates, China, Thailand, Singapore, Portugal, Mauritius and South Africa. (Image: DR)