MOZAMBIQUE: SIX MEN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGED

UNCLAS MAPUTO 000242

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/S:HTREGER, AF/RSA:MHARPOLE, G/TIP:RYOUSEY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM EAID KDEM KWMN ASEC KCRM SMIG MZ
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: SIX MEN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGED
TRAFFICKING OF 43 PERSONS



1. (U) Summary. On Friday, February 17, Mozambican police
stopped two minivans on the EN4 highway linking Mozambique
and South Africa, arresting six men allegedly involved in a
plan to traffic 43 persons to South Africa. After being held
for questioning in Maputo, the 43 individuals, including two
women and four children, were returned to their homes in
Manica and Sofala provinces on February 22. PolOff was able
to interview many of them before their departure. End
summary.


2. (U) Through conversations with police and victims, PolOff
pieced together a story that begins in the impoverished,
rural bush (in the provinces of Manica and Sofala),where a
recruiter from the capital city Maputo promised victims
employment in South Africa. He charged those who could pay
600,000 meticais each (the equivalent of $24) for the
journey. Those who couldn't afford the fee were told they
could work off their debt once they arrived in South Africa.
The 43 individuals were driven to Maputo and held in a
transit house and prevented from leaving for two days. On
Friday, in two minivans, they left Maputo for the border
under the cover of night, but were pulled over at a routine
police checkpoint at 2300 hours. The police found that none
of the 43 possessed any identity documents, and as the
border post was closed, concluded the alleged traffickers
were planning to cross the border illegally.


3. (U) The children's ages ranged from seven to 16. At the
police station, they sat quietly among the adults, looking
afraid and shying away from questions. A man who claimed to
be the uncle of two of the children said he was taking the
kids to attend school in South Africa, but the police
dismissed this as implausible. Police informed PolOff that
the six men arrested included the two drivers and four
"handlers." One man known as "Arlindo," whom police identify
as a key figure in the organized network, is still at large.
Police hope that information gleaned from this case will
lead to further breakthroughs in detecting other trafficking
networks.


4. (U) Comment: This latest case demonstrates a significant
success in anti-trafficking efforts in that the police were
able to identify a trafficking situation, move swiftly to
make appropriate arrests, gather information to begin an
investigation, call on two local NGOs for victims'
assistance which was quickly provided, and repatriate the
victims without undue delay. The GRM faces significant
challenges as it tries to tackle the country's complex
trafficking problem, which is rooted in desperate poverty
and a long history of migration to the mines and farms of
South Africa (former President Chissano's father worked in
South Africa's mines). With several thousand kilometers of
porous land borders, Mozambique is known as both a source
and transit country for trafficking in persons. People are
trafficked primarily for labor or sexual exploitation.
Sometimes the trafficked are dumped back over the border
again; we hear of Mozambican children and young adults who,
after months of working illegally on South African farms,
are turned over to the immigration police by their
"employers," who have failed to pay them for their work and
who claim to have never seen them before. End comment.

LA LIME