"We know who you are, we know you work with Nini Satar"

There is evidence from the State Information and Security Services (SISE) and the Attorney General's Office (PGR) that points to Mozambican citizen Momade Assife "Nini" Satar as the mastermind of some of the largest kidnappings for ransom in South Africa, according to a joint international investigation by the TimesLIVE and the Henry Nxumalo Foundation, verified today by MZNews.

The publication says that Nini Satar entrusted these crimes to his best collaborators, "infantry soldiers" and fellow prisoners, who carried out orders issued from the Machava Maximum Security Penitentiary, alias "B.O.", in Maputo province. Among Nini's alleged loyalists are Esmail Nangy, Edson Vombe and Mahomed Bakhir Ayoob. "Nangy is believed to have undergone facial reconstruction surgery to avoid being caught, but was arrested earlier this year."

The research, entitled On the hunt: Exposing South Africa's kidnapping kingpins (On the hunt: Exposing South Africa's kidnap kingpinshas five chapters, and seeks to identify the main perpetrators of kidnappings and murders in South Africa. The first chapter, Journalist's killer 'runs kidnapping empire from Maputo maximum security prison' (Journalist's killer runs kidnapping empire from Maputo's Maximum Security Penitentiary), is dedicated to accounts of crimes such as torture, extortion, intimidation and death, allegedly perpetrated by trusted men at the behest of Nini Satar.

In one of the cases, the criminals kidnapped a Mozambican businesswoman from a Forex Gita Samgi, 57, in October 2019 outside her home in Mbombela, South Africa. She moved from Mozambique in 2017 after her sister, Poornima Singh, was kidnapped in Maputo. She was released from captivity after paying a ransom.

The kidnappers sent videos to Gita's relatives in which she appeared to be burned with a hot iron and begged for help. The relatives paid 130 million rand (more than 456 million meticais at the current exchange rate) for Gita's ransom until February 2020, but to no avail.

"Gita's body, wrapped in sheets, was found under a bridge on the N4 highway near eMalahleni on February 28, 2020. She had been dead for days," reads the publication.

A family member, who believes he was kidnapped by the same syndicate, said he was drowned and almost died after his brother sent the person responsible for negotiating the kidnappers a message that almost sealed his fate.

"My brother made the mistake of sending an SMS saying: 'We know who you are, we know you work with Nini Satar'. They didn't like the fact that my brother had written that name".

"They filled the bathtub with water. They wrapped my body in chains. They put a plastic bag over my head and threw me in the tub for minutes until I lost consciousness. After that, I started cooperating more," he said.

According to TimesLIVE, there is evidence from the victims' relatives and friends, the South African Police Services (SAPS), SISE and international police records "that some of the major kidnappings for ransom in South Africa were orchestrated by Satar's group and carried out by his most trusted men".

"According to documents from the Mozambican secret services, it is from his cell in the infamous B.O. maximum security prison in Maputo that the Mozambican and South African police believe Satar has been building his kidnapping empire since 2012, which has forced many of the country's business elite to flee to South Africa," it reads.

Nini Satar's lawyer, Mutola Escova, refuted the allegations before investigators, saying they were rumors, not least because "Satar is a successful businessman. He owns 40 apartments in Paris. He's a great businessman and that has always caused a lot of envy in society".

Kidnapping crimes in South Africa, says the investigation, increased with the arrival of Esmail Nangy, Edson Vombe and Mahomed Bakhir Ayoob between 2013 and 2017. They were looking for very wealthy businessmen who had fled Mozambique due to waves of robberies in previous years. "A South African intelligence source says they are nicknamed 'The Mozambicans'."

"In an exclusive interview with TimesLIVE Investigations, senior officials from the Central Office for Combating Organized and Transnational Crime of the Mozambican Attorney General's Office said that Vombe, Nangy and Ayoob were controlled from prison by Satar, who used them to direct his operations," the investigators write.

Nini's lawyer rejected the accusations.

"We are currently investigating strong links between Satar, Nangy and Vombe, who apparently took over the day-to-day management of Satar's operations in South Africa," said a senior member of the PGR's Central Office for Combating Organized and Transnational Crime.

In addition to information from SISE and PGR, TIMESLIVE said it had access to documents from the Mozambican police on the investigations into Nangy.

Some of the crimes led by Nangy involved people close to him, including his brother Amade, his cousin Danish Nangy and at least one of his four wives, Asserina Sadique Nangy.

The indictment reveals that Nangy's other alleged accomplices, Celso Abílio Cossa and brothers Samuel Fortunato and Edgar José Fortunato Rungo, were arrested shortly after businessman Ahmed Anwar, who was kidnapped in Maputo, was released from captivity.

"A report by the Mozambican State Information and Security Services (SISE) entitled 'Abductions of Mozambicans abroad' corroborates the claims made by the senior member of the [PGR]," write the investigators. The document states that Ayoob was involved in kidnappings in South Africa.

The SISE document alleges that Ayoob "ordered" the kidnappings of "Mozambicans of Indian origin outside (Mozambique), particularly in the RSA ... (Ayoob is) accused of part of the kidnappings carried out ... in connection with Nini Satar ... [and] uses Mozambican thugs to carry out the kidnappings from Maputo to the RSA".

The ransom payments were made to accounts domiciled in Dubai, through the Hawala system and to money changers, and other Mozambican accounts in Dubai.

To read the full investigation, click here. here.