Mozambican police approves detention of suspect over beer poisoning

Mozambican Police has approved the detention of a citizen who allegedly introduced a non-identified substance in a homemade beer that caused the death of 75 people last month.

Local media on Tuesday quoted Police spokesperson, Luis Nudia, as saying the decision was made a few days ago, but the police kept it in order for the investigation.

"Now we leave the case to the public prosecution which was already advanced during the investigation, to find out more facts, including the reasons for the suspect to commit the crime," said the police.

The authorities said they were cautious in dealing with this case given its sensitivity, as they worried about aggressive reactions from the public due to the large number of death it caused.

The suspect Graciano Antonio Chicuamba had been immediately transferred from the area he was captured to a none-identified jail in the capital of the province.

The tragedy happened early in January after people drank the beer at a funeral in Tete province. The beer named "Pombe" was traditionally served in local ceremonies.

While the investigation proceeds, the Ministry of Health is still waiting for the final results of the sample of the beer collected for analyses.

The first samples were sent to the neighboring South Africa with preliminary results showing low level of poison. Currently the samples are going through analyses in Portugal and Switzerland. Endi