The Judicial Court of Sofala province heard on Tuesday the accused Gimo Machamba, alleged supplier of weapons for kidnappings in the city of Beira. Machamba told the court that he does not know the three citizens arrested at the end of last year, after an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap a Pakistani businessman in that city.

Declarant Machamba explained that he got to know the other three co-defendants about a week ago, in a prison service vehicle, during a trip from Beira Central Prison to the court.

However, Machamba, who is a defendant in another case of robbery with the use of a firearm, assumed to be carrying an AKM-type weapon upon his arrest in Zambezia, and not two pistols, as was said last week.

Declarant Machamba was sentenced in 2015 to six years in prison for the crime of theft using a firearm. He was released a year later, and the reasons were not explained in this third session, as it was not the subject of the trial.

The court also heard, this Tuesday, the second SERNIC agent who, like his colleague heard last week (26), said he learned of the kidnapping preparations through their operative lines. He also confirmed his participation in the operation that culminated in the arrest of the three co-defendants, with one of them having confessed to the crime in the course of the investigations, as well as the involvement of the others, including the declarant Gimo Machamba.

At this third session, the third SERNIC agent was also to have been heard as a declarant, but he failed to appear in court for health reasons, and his hearing was postponed until August 9.