Mozambican prosecutor probing kidnapping cases murdered

A prosecutor for the Mozambican capital Maputo, who was probing kidnapping cases of businessmen that have plagued Mozambican cities since late 2011, was murdered on Monday, police have said.

Marcelino Vilankulo was shot three times in the head near his home in the Maputo suburb of Matola by unidentified gunmen in a vehicle at around 19:00 local time, and died on the spot.

"The police can say very little in terms of the work he was doing and reasons behind his killing," said Maputo provincial police spokesperson, Emidio Mabunda, adding they are hunting the murderers.

There are allegations that the killing is linked to the probes into Danish Satar, who is suspected of involvement in a series of kidnappings of businessmen, mostly of Asian descent, since late 2011.

Ransoms demanded in these kidnappings were believed to run to millions of U.S. dollars sometimes.

Satar, a member of the so-called Abdul Satar crime family, was arrested last December by Interpol in Italy and was later extradited to Maputo.

In a press conference on Tuesday, the Attorney-General's office condemned the murder of Vilankulo, saying it will not be intimidated by the crime and encouraging all justice officials to remain determined in their role.

It also said a multi-sectoral team has been set up to investigate the murder.

Vilanculo is the second justice official who was murdered while working on the kidnapping cases.

In May 2014, Dinis Silica, a Maputo city judge, was shot dead in downtown Maputo. Endit