POLICE HUNT SUPERMARKET RAIDERS

The Mozambican police are hunting for a gang of armed thieves who attacked a supermarket last week in the Maputo neighbourhood of Malhangalene.Maputo City police spokesperson Orlando Mudumane told reporters on Monday that the thieves stole 50,000 meticais (about 1,660 US dollars) in cash, ten cell phones and a computer. He declined to name the supermarket.“The individuals entered the shop, pulled out a pistol and threatened the customers”, he said. “They took what they wanted and made their escape. Investigations are continuing in order to arrest the criminals”. Mudumane also said the police detained five people accused of stealing cars by passing dud cheques to three separate car rental companies. The five were named as Salvador Mulid, Antonio Chalosse, Pedro Ernesto, Mussa Aly and Estevao Macuvele Junior.“They would go to the rent-a-car companies to hire the most expensive vehicles”, he said. “They used company cheques for payment and took the cars”.But when the car rental companies tried to cash the cheques, they found that they bounced, and so they promptly denounced the swindle to the police. But by that time the gang had managed to steal six cars. However the police have succeeded in recovering all of them in Maputo city and province. Mudumane did not give the names of the companies whose cheques were used in this fraud. Mudumane said that, over the previous week, the authorities had denied entry into the country to 66 foreigners, some because their entry visas were forged, and some because they could not explain what they were going to do in Mozambique and what they would live on. Those denied entry included 19 Pakistanis, 15 Egyptians, 11 Bangladeshis, four Nigerians, three Ethiopians, three Somalis, two Kenyans, two Cameroonians, two Senegalese and two Vietnamese. During the week, the Maputo traffic police inspected 4,569 vehicles, of which 11 were seized because of various irregularities. 1,608 motorists were fined, and 37 were found to be driving under the influence of alcohol. Six motorists were arrested for offering bribes to the traffic police.