MOZAMBIQUE: WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN'S SON KIDNAPPED;

UNCLAS MAPUTO 001424 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/S - HTREGER NSC FOR CCOURVILLE PRETORIA FOR LEGATT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM KCOR SNAR PHUM MZ SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN'S SON KIDNAPPED; HUGE RANSOM PAID FOR RELEASE REF: A. MAPUTO 1408 ¶B. MAPUTO 155 ¶C. 04 MAPUTO 1658 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please treat accordingly. Not for internet distribution. ¶2. (U) According to reports in the press, Gafur Hassan, son of prominent Indo-Mozambican businessman Gulamo Hassan, was kidnapped in the evening of October 27 in the city of Nacala, Nampula province, but then released a few hours later after his father paid a massive ransom, using a combination of local currency and US dollars, worth USD 200,000. Several gunmen, allegedly of "asian" (south asian) background, abducted the 29-year old as he was leaving the Nacala-Porto mosque in downtown Nacala. Upon learning of the kidnapping, Hassan contacted figures "at the highest level" in the Ministry of Interior and the police and asked that they not intervene, evidently fearing that their involvement would only complicate negotiations for his son's release. Hassan collected the money that evening, some of which he had at home, according to press reports. ¶3. (SBU) Hassan is reportedly one of the wealthiest men in the northern region of Mozambique. He owns a number of shopping centers that sell products ranging from foodstuffs to appliances, most of which are imported from Dubai through the Nacala port. (Note: Nacala has historically been considered home of some of Mozambique's shadier business interests, with its port serving as an entry point for illicit goods, including drugs and weapons. End note.) He is a distant relative of the prominent Gulamo family, third-generation Mozambicans of Pakistani descent, whose Grupo Gulamo owns a majority of shares in Air Corridor, the air carrier rival of the national airline, LAM (ref C). For mention of Grupo Gulamo's links to illicit narcotics trafficking, see ref B. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: High-level kidnapping is uncommon; this is only the third prominent kidnapping in the past 15 years. While the kidnapping appears to involve only the Indo-Mozambican community, coming on the heels of the October 21 murder of the director of Maputo's central prison (ref A) the incident will feed growing public concern over an increase in violent crime. Separately, Hassan's ability on short notice to cobble together from private sources such a large amount of cash, assuming the press reports are true, raises questions about the character of his finances. We see no evidence, however, that the large payoff will draw any particular GRM scrutiny. La Lime