/ 30 May 2001

MOZAMBICAN POLICE NAB ALLEGED CHILD KILLERS

MOZAMBICAN police in the northern port city of Nacala have arrested a group of five men accused of killing children to extract and sell body parts. The Maputo daily, Noticias, cited a police source as saying the killers cut out some of the victims’ organs to sell to the crew of foreign ships at Nacala port. The police said Lobato Manuel Joao, Eurico Gomes, Ligerio Antonio and Antonio Gitana confessed to hacking at least three children to death between January and March this year. The report said they were working for Alberto Muania, a security guard at Nacala port, who paid them two million meticais (about $100) for the body parts. The three bodies were found in a bush on the outskirts of Nacala, following a police probe after rumours about the group and their gruesome activities had circulated earlier in the year. – Pana