MAPUTO – The General Commander of the Mozambique police has confirmed the same mastermind behind the kidnappings as Lowvelder’s investigation did last year. Gen Jorge Khalau claimed that Abdul Satar (“Nini”), convicted murderer of investigative journalist Mr Carlos Cardoso, was the person behind most of the abductions that had shaken the country’s cities since late 2011.
Lowvelder had first reported that super-rich families from Mozambique were seeking asylum in Mbombela and purchasing properties in the area to relocate their families. A Lowveld estate agent had told the newspaper that there had been an influx of families relocating to the Mpumalanga’s capital because of its close proximity to Maputo. He said most wealthy families were now moving their wives and children to Mbombela. The husbands did business in Maputo during the week and joined their loved ones over weekends.
There had been considerable speculation that Satar had been organising the kidnapping from his prison cell (where he has always had easy access to mobile phones), but the Public Prosecutor’s office at that time did not find enough evidence to charge him.
The three men found guilty of ordering Cardoso’s murder, the late former bank manager Vicente Ramaya, Satar , and his brother Ayob Abdul Satar, owner of the now defunct Unicambios Foreign Exchange Bureau, were jailed first in the BO, and later transferred to the city command.
Ramaya was assassinated earlier this year after he and Ayob were released from prison in 2013 on grounds of good behaviour, after having served half of their sentence. According to AIM, Nini remained behind bars and prosecutors believed they had the evidence to charge him with the ordering of some of the initial kidnappings that occurred late 2011 and early 2012.
Mr Nazir Loonat, spokesman for the Islamic community in Maputo, told this newspaper that families were losing hope. “They have employed investigators from all over the world, hand all the evidence to officials and nothing gets done.”
