The National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) has arrested a couple accused of kidnapping a minor in the district of Dondo, Sofala province, and demanding 1.5 million meticais in ransom.

The child was allegedly abducted by a woman last Sunday while she was playing outside a church. The child's parents were inside the church.

The accused denies the fact, claiming that she found the child abandoned in a street crying. She told the press that she chose to take the child to her home for fear of what might happen to her if she took her to the police.

The husband said that the woman came home with the child. They then went to Dondo to find the child's family.

"When we went to Dondo to try and find the parents' house, there was a flyer with the parents' contact details," he said, adding that at that point they started contacting the girl's parents asking for a ransom of 1.5 million meticais.

The cell phone number used to contact the child's parents was registered under the identity of a third citizen, using documents supposedly found on the street.

SERNIC's spokesman in Sofala, Alfeu Sitoe, said that the family negotiated the amount and the fraudsters reduced it to 200,000 meticais.

"Even so, the family couldn't pay that amount," he said, noting that they sent almost five thousand meticais because they thought that the family that had the child couldn't afford to feed the child.

After receiving the money, the criminals put a knife in the victim's stomach, wrapped the child and the knife with transparent tape, took photos and sent them to the parents to pressure them into paying the ransom.

The family amassed another 75,000 meticais, the spokesman said.

The house used as captivity had been rented by the couple at the end of May, and at the time of the arrest a citizen was found who denies any involvement in the crime.

The child was seen by coroners and is now with his parents. (Source: STV)