Mozambique: Police arrest 18-year-old in possession of human organs

The Mozambican police have detained a young man in possession of several human organs in the centre of the country, a source at the corporation told Lusa today.

The 18-year-old man allegedly attacked and killed a private security guard at a residence in Vanduzi district, before removing some of his organs on the orders of “a boss”, who is also wanted, police spokesman Mário Arnaça said.

The detainee was already associated with previous attempts to kidnap minors and organ trafficking in Manica.

The suspect is reported to have said he was hired “to look for human organs”, and plied the security guard with alcoholic beverages before taking him to the residence where he worked and killing him on Wednesday night.

The detainee related this version of events to the police in the presence of his parents, describing the boss as a citizen of Bengali nationality to whom he owed 55,000 meticais (about €870 euros) as a result of the disappearance of construction materials. The young man said he was to repay his debt with the organs.

“The Bengali told me to kill a person and take his head and lungs,” he told the police.

The situation has antecedents in Manica province, usually linked to witchcraft and other illicit enrichment practices.

In April, one person died during riots involving hundreds of people who took to the streets and destroyed two homes of a local trader they suspected of having kidnapped two of his employees' daughters.

The suspicion arose after residents found what they thought were human organs stored in two refrigerators.

The unrest led to clashes with police attempting to disperse the protesters.

In 2020, the police reactivated an alert on human trafficking in Manica province after foiling three attempts at child trafficking in a single week.

Judicial authorities put the region on ‘red alert' in 2012, dubbing the rise in the number of cases of trafficking in persons and human organs “alarming”.

Source: Lusa