MOZAMBIQUE: FIRST TIP-RELATED CONVICTION

UNCLAS MAPUTO 000310

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

AF/S:HTREGER
G/TIP:RYOUSEY
AF/RSA:MHARPOLE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG ELAB KFRD MZ
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: FIRST TIP-RELATED CONVICTION

REF: MAPUTO 259


1. (U) SUMMARY: Two Mozambican men were sentenced last week
to 8 and 9 months in prison, respectively, for kidnapping and
attempting to sell a 13-year-old boy in Inhambane province.
To Post's knowledge, this is the country's first-ever
trafficking-related conviction. It also marks one of the
first times the press has expressly linked in-country
kidnapping and the attempted selling of a minor to
trafficking. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) According to a March 3 newspaper report, earlier that
week the Tribunal Court of Maxixe City, located in Inhambane
province, sentenced two Mozambican men to prison for
kidnapping and attempting to sell a 13-year-old boy named
Sergio Raimundo Potanhane. The boy is an elementary school
student in Massinga, a neighboring district of the province.
The two individuals, Jose Vasco Ngulele and Armando Rafael,
were sentenced to eight and nine months in prison,
respectively. Police believe the two may be part of a larger
crime network involved in the kidnapping and selling of
children.


3. (U) The crime began in mid-November 2005, when the
convicts contacted an audio equipment repairman, Manuel
Biliao, who had developed a reputation in the neighborhood
for being a "trafficker of organs and genitals," offering to
sell him a boy. Biliao agreed to buy the child for 200
million meticais (approximately $8,000). After the
arrangements were made, Biliao phoned the investigative
police and reported the details of his conversation,
including the fact the men told him they had been involved in
the selling of children since 2003, and that "trafficking
coordination" occurred between a Mozambican national in
Massinga and a foreigner of unknown nationality. (Note:
According to the report, Biliao said he contacted police "to
clear his good name." End Note.) On November 16, the day
the deal was to go down, the police sent two undercover
agents to act as Manuel's money handlers. It was during this
sting operation in Maxixe that the two men were arrested.


4. (SBU) Post followed up by telephoning the journalist who
wrote the story. The journalist said the two men had
approached the boy as he was getting out of school and told
him his parents had told them to take him to Maxixe,
approximately 60 km away. The boy agreed to go with them.
The journalist confirmed that the boy was immediately
returned to his family. He said the individuals were
convicted of the lesser charge of "constraint," as the child
was never sold. Nevertheless, the journalist concluded that
the two had every intention of selling the boy.


5. (U) COMMENT: It is important to note that the author of
the news piece used the phrase "attempted trafficking" in
describing the criminal charges leveled against the two men,
even though no anti-trafficking-in-persons law exists in
Mozambique. Given the absence of a TIP law, the conviction
and subsequent reporting may point to the success of public
awareness campaigns on trafficking targeting journalists and
the judicial sector. This case also highlights what
researchers believe is a common phenomenon in Mozambique -
the involvement of traffickers in the long-standing practice
of sending kids to the city to work or seek a better life.
La Lime