The police commander-general said this Thursday that five people kidnapped in the first quarter of this year in the country are still being held captive and asked the corporation to work more with communities to report suspicious residences.

According to official police accounts quoted by Lusa, there were "six cases of kidnapping in the country" in the first quarter and, of these, "we have only one case in which the victim is in the family environment," said Bernardino Rafael, during the presentation ceremony of the new commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in the province of Maputo.

The commander-general wants greater commitment from the agents in locating the victims and holding the kidnappers accountable, suggesting, therefore, that each agent "work more with the community in their residential area."

"In Matola, on the outskirts of Maputo, there are many houses that you don't know who owns them. During the day nobody stays, but at night a person appears there. So we have to work with the community" to understand what is going on, Bernardino Rafael said.

The officer also said that the involvement of police officers in kidnappings "tarnishes the corporation," reiterating that he will "vigorously fight" against the offending officers.

About 100 people gathered on Saturday in the city of Beira, in the center of the country, in a march against the wave of kidnappings affecting businessmen and their families.

In a crime assessment presented earlier this month, Mozambique's attorney general said that kidnapping crimes have been on the rise and criminal groups have cross-border ramifications, maintaining cells in countries like South Africa.

According to Beatriz Buchili, 14 criminal cases for kidnapping were registered in 2021, compared to 18 in 2020, but there are other cases that escape the official accounting, and in most of them the outcome is unknown.

The attorney general also said that the "kidnap victims" are "constantly blackmailed" by the kidnappers, even after their release, to continue paying them sums of money, aggravating the feeling of insecurity.