BANK ROBBERS ARRESTED

The Mozambican police have announced the arrests of three members of a gang of armed robbers who raided banks and other institutions in Maputo city and province.According to the police, this is the gang that stole five million meticais (about 161,000 US dollars) from a branch of the Pro-Credit Bank in the Maputo neighbourhood of Chamanculo on 18 October last year.The thieves had clearly made meticulous preparations for this robbery, since they kidnapped both the bank manager and his deputy from their homes, and drove them to the bank, where they forced them to open the strong box.The same gang, on 26 July, raided in broad daylight a branch of the Commercial and Investment Bank (BCI) in the central Maputo neighbourhood of Alto Mae, where they stole 230,000 meticais.That same day, just two hours later, the gang attacked a branch of the electricity company, EDM, in the Matola neighbourhood of Zona Verde. They overpowered the security guards and stole 214,000 meticais from payments made that day by EDM clients. They also stole mobile phones and other personal belongings from EDM staff and clients. According to a report in Thursday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the police arrested three members of the gang, named as C. Nacatembo, C. Nhalungo and N. Milagre, in a house in Ndlavela, also in Matola, as they were preparing another robbery. The arrests were possible thanks to a tip-off.The police say the gang consisted of seven members. Two of them were injured in a shoot-out with the police, and one later died in Maputo central hospital. No details of this clash have been made public.The other two gang members are still at large.