Businessman and owner of Armazéns Atlântico Comercial, Mohammad Hussein Cálu, has just been kidnapped. The kidnapping took place this morning at around 7.28am on Ho Chi Min Avenue in Maputo City. 

It all happened when the businessman, who was supposedly leaving his home behind, stopped his white car for a second to take his two security guards.

At that very moment, in a very rapid action, individuals armed with AKM-type weapons and pistols (there are presumably four of them) approached the victim's car, pulled the security guards out of the car, shot them, and then took the victim to another car and fled.

According to witnesses who witnessed the act, the two security guards shot during the criminal action were taken to hospital for medical attention and their condition is not yet known.

A search and arrest operation was launched immediately after the kidnapping. Following this operation, the car used in the kidnapping was found abandoned at the Hotel Moçambicano, where the kidnappers had apparently changed clothes and vehicles.

The kidnapping comes two weeks after an attempt to kidnap another businessman in the city of Maputo, which has alarmed the national business community, given the intensification of these crimes.

"How are we entrepreneurs going to continue living like this?" asked a businessman quoted by TV Miramar, without identifying himself.

Despite the video footage, the police still don't know the identity of the kidnappers or the real motives behind the kidnapping.