WeeklySA_AdminSPECTRE: A total of 4 300 kidnapping cases reported between July and September in South Africa this year as Maputo, Durban and Johannesburg emerge as Southern Africa’s kidnapping hotspots…
By Monk Nkomo
This week’s fatal shooting of the highly wanted alleged mastermind behind a spate of kidnappings in South Africa and Mozambique on Wednesday night – the second suspected kidnap kingpin killed in similar circumstances in three months – follows a long-running cat-and-mouse game between police and ransom kidnap syndicates.
Nicknamed ‘’Dollarman’’ and described by the police as a major figure linked to kidnap syndicates operating between the two countries, the suspect was being sought in connection with the kidnapping of a Benoni businessman from his premises on July 23 this year.
Following the police interception, the Indian businessman was rescued from a shack in Alexandra township and safely reunited with his family. His rescue follows a shooting in which the alleged mastermind behind his kidnapping was shot and killed during confrontation with police officers near the R21 in Kempton Park on Wednesday night.
The suspect, who is on SERNIC which is Mozambique’s “wanted persons” database in connection with several kidnapping-for-ransom cases, was also linked to at least five ransom kidnap cases as well as for housebreaking, carjacking and possession of unlicensed firearms.
“Dollarman” is the second suspected Mozambican kidnap kingpin to be intercepted by police in three months – Mauro Mucambe was killed in a police shootout in Fourways, Johannesburg, in June this year, in a case in which a Pakistani businessman was kidnapped and a R27-million ransom demanded. The businessman, a wholesale supplier of shops across Gauteng, was kidnapped at his business Pretoria West.
The fight against kidnappings was among some of the issues raised at last week’s 27th African Regional Interpol Conference held in Cape Town, where it was reported that ransom incidents in Africa had risen in 2024 with South Africa and Egypt suffering the highest number at 17 849 and 12 281 detections respectively.
Cross-border crime, compounded by porous borders and corrupt police officers, is between South Africa and Mozambique with illicit activities including kidnappings for ransom perpetrated by sophisticated criminal syndicates, according to Global Security Insight (GSI) report, the global risk and intelligence consultancy.
In its report, GSI says gangs originating in Mozambique cities like Maputo, Beira and Nampula, expanded their operations into South Africa as early as 2013.
Alarming statistics and incidents shared by SA police and international police agency Interpol in the recent weeks reveal that:
• A total of 4 300 kidnapping cases were reported between July and September this year, according to the police quarterly report.
• From July 2021 to date, a total 337 suspected kidnappers had been arrested by the anti-kidnapping task team and nearly 146 illegal firearms were seized at the crime scenes.
• Since January 24, a total of 170 criminals have been arrested for kidnap-for-ransom cases in South Africa, according to police.
• Maputo, Durban and Johannesburg have emerged as Southern Africa’s kidnapping hotspots.
• Cross- border crime worsened by corrupt border officers.
• Gangs from Mozambique started their criminal operations in SA in 2013.
• Porous borders remained a worrying factor in allowing criminal syndicates to operate between both South Africa and Mozambique.
Over a decade, the connections between organized crime syndicates in Mozambique and kidnapping gangs in South Africa, had strengthened, driven by underlying conditions on both sides of the border. According to GSI, kidnapping gangs thrived in environments where police lacked the capabilities to pose a significant deterrent. In Mozambique and South Africa, ill-equipped and understaffed police services had severe limitations in infiltrating and disrupting criminal syndicates.
“This issue was compounded by police collusion in kidnapping activities. On both sides of the border, numerous reports highlight police involvement in kidnapping cases. Underfunded and ill-equipped border control authorities in Mozambique and SA, coupled with corruption among border staff, have facilitated the cross-border flow of personnel, weapons, vehicles and in some cases, kidnap victims.’’
These dynamics, GSI added, had contributed to a nexus between crime syndicates based in Maputo and those in Durban and Johannesburg – two of South Africa’s kidnapping hotspots. According to the SAPS crime statistics, kidnappings in the Gauteng province increased from 2085 in the 4th quarter of the 2023\2024 financial year to 2414 in the same period in 2024\2025.
The GSI report revealed that cross-border crime had long been an issue between SA and Mozambique with illicit activities including human and drug smuggling as well as poaching, fostering cooperation between organised crime groups in both countries. While kidnapping for ransom had long been a significant issue in Mozambique, the phenomenon in South Africa was more recent, with a sharp increase in cases from 2016 onwards, the GSI report noted.
With different aspects of the syndicates’ operations based on either side of the border, their transnational nature was becoming increasingly embedded. For example, alleged kingpins of Mozambican groups had been arrested in Johannesburg on charges related to kidnappings in Mozambique, including Esmael Malude Ramos Nangy in 2023.
Here, syndicate leaders were able to orchestrate kidnappings in Mozambique from Johannesburg beyond the watchful eye of Mozambican authorities while at the same time establishing local networks to scout new victims in a target-rich environment.
‘’Similarly, following a string of kidnappings targeting Portuguese butchery owners in Johannesburg in early 2024, hostage negotiators noticed that the kidnappers were increasingly demanding Portuguese speakers during ransom negotiations. This led police to believe the group responsible for the incidents was operating out of Mozambique.’’ According to GSI, numerous reports highlighted police involvement in kidnapping cases in South Africa and Mozambique. For instance, in April 2024, two police officers were charged with kidnapping and extortion in a case where they demanded R200 000 from victims in Free State province, while two Mozambican police officers were arrested on similar charges relating to a kidnapping in Maputo in May 2
KIDNAP GANGS SCORED R580m RANSOM IN MOZAMBIQUE
RACKETEERING: A total of 100 businesspeople fled that country as a result of abductions in a decade…
By Alberto Massango, AIM
Since the first case of kidnappings was reported 12 years ago in Mozambique, 100 businesspeople, most of them of Asian origin, have left the country, reported Mozambican news agency AIM in June this year.
According to the Strategic Analysis Report (RAE), published by the Mozambican Financial Intelligence Office (GIFiM), the wave of kidnappings had generated, since 2014, over 33 million dollars (R580m) in money laundering (in the form of ransom payments).
However, in a report published in June this year, Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) believed that the number of kidnappings in Maputo city were on the decline, with only four cases recorded over the first five months of this year, compared to eight in the same period of 2024.
According to SERNIC spokesperson João Adriano, speaking to reporters in June this year, in Maputo, although there had been arrests as part of the investigations, the exact number had not been revealed by then, so as not to jeopardise the course of the investigations and avoid compromising the identification of other criminals involved in the cases.
“We have recorded four kidnappings in the city of Maputo and the work that has been done so far has culminated in some arrests. We would like not to share the specific number”, he said at the time. “The authorities are continuing their efforts to neutralise the criminal networks involved in this type of crime and to clarify other associated cases”.
Adriano believed that the drop in the number of kidnappings is a result of a reinforcement of joint operations between SERNIC and other defense and security forces.
“We feel that this year there has been a reduction compared to last year. Kidnapping cases in Maputo city are tending to fall and, as we can see, even this latest case was cleared up immediately”, he said. He was referring to the kidnapping of an eight year old girl in May.
“The victim has already been rescued and is now with her family”, said Adriano. “Fortunately, the child was found in good health, although she was weak because during all those hours she had no access to water or any food.
However, after the rescue, the family did their work to restore the child’s physical and emotional condition”, he said.
In connection with the case, one of the family’s former drivers, was detained in possession of a pistol. “We have to be careful with the people we work with, the people who work in our homes. You have to evaluate their conduct, you have to know what you share and what you don’t share with them”, he added. – Report sourced from AIM
‘Mozambique’s top prosecutor admitted government’s failure to handle kidnappings’
RACKETEERING: Mozambican Attorney-General claims “some members of the country’s police force and magistrates were involved in the preparation, facilitation, and execution of kidnappings”…
By Own Correspondent
A Top Mozambican prosecutor formally acknowledged that the government is struggling to combat an increase in kidnappings owing to the involvement of some members of the police and judiciary, according to Türkiye news agency report Anadolu Ajansi published in April this year.
Attorney General Americo Letela, who appeared in Mozambican parliament to explain the rising number of kidnappings, acknowledged that efforts to combat the crime are being thwarted because “some members of the country’s police force and magistrates were involved in the preparation, facilitation, and execution of kidnappings.”
According to the Mozambican Financial Intelligence Office (GIFiM), the “kidnapping industry” has generated more than $33 million (R580m) for criminals since 2014.
Infiltration of the institutions of justice by criminal organisations and the weaknesses in the investigations are among the obstacles in the fight against kidnapping in the country, he told Anadolu Ajansi.
“There is the fact that the crime of kidnapping is part of organised crime, which tends to infiltrate the institutions of the administration of justice and others that intervene in preventing and combating it, to ensure its own impunity,” he said.
Mozambique and South Africa are the most affected by kidnapping in Southern Africa, Borges Nthamire, a consultant for the South African Institute for Security Studies (ISS), told Anadolu over the phone.
He said kidnapping for ransom has been prevalent in Mozambique for nearly two decades.
“However, because Mozambique police have been unable to combat the crime, kidnappers have become more brazen,” Nthamire said, accusing the country’s national criminal investigations service agents of being involved in the kidnapping.
He claimed that the victims, mostly Asian businessmen, are kidnapped in “broad daylight” for weeks or months before being released only after ransoms are paid.
“Victims are often tortured and sometimes killed if payments are overdue,” he said.
According to the Interior Ministry, the country has recorded at least 250 cases of kidnappings since 2011.
A few weeks ago, Interior Minister Paul Chachime told parliament that his ministry is working to “cleanse the police force of criminal agents who are part of the network facilitating kidnappings in the country.”
Since January 2024, he said, at least 514 disciplinary proceedings against police officers have been initiated, with at least 73 being expelled for crimes.
According to the Confederation of Mozambican Business Association (CTA), the country has been experiencing a wave of kidnappings since 2011, with the victims primarily being businesspeople of Asian descent.
Pedro Baltazar, head of the CTA’s security department, told Anadolu that over the last 12 years, at least 150 businesspeople have been kidnapped, forcing approximately 100 businesspeople of Asian origin to flee the country.
“Kidnappings have had a significant negative impact on the economy,” he said, suggesting that the government must make significant investments in defence and security forces to combat this crime, as well as form a specialist anti-kidnapping force within the police.
