Mozambique's Attorney General's Office (PGR) has appealed to internet users to avoid showing their private lives on social media so as not to fall into the traps of criminals, who work in coordination with international human trafficking networks.

Lately, there have been several reports of people mysteriously disappearing, especially young women and children. But then they are found dead, with body parts removed, which means that human organ traffickers have been kidnapping people to subject them to forced organ harvesting.

According to Ângela Massango, from the Attorney General's Office, criminals use social networks to lure victims, after investigating their private lives in detail.

"Many cases of human trafficking begin precisely on social networks, because people's accounts often show their private lives. These are vulnerabilities that criminals take advantage of and discover our fragility," he said in an interview with Radio Mozambique.

Massango believes that poverty, low levels of education and unemployment are the main factors contributing to human trafficking, which is often linked to organized and transnational crime networks, as well as superstitious practices.

"There are many situations in which trafficking takes place from one region to another. We have recorded several cases of trafficking within the country," he said, explaining that "the cases of organ removal in Mozambique are more for superstitious reasons".

He explained that the PGR has been working with its partners to stop and combat the phenomenon, "and in addition to our repressive side, we have a preventive side."

"One of the objective elements of this crime of human trafficking is transportation. That's why we believe that bus drivers also need to have basic knowledge of this issue so that they can identify the signs and potential victims of human trafficking," he concluded.

(Photo DR)