Maputo, April 24, 2026 (Lusa) – The Italian businessman detained in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, on suspicion of trafficking and money laundering has been on hunger strike since his detention on Tuesday, the Mozambican prison service announced on Friday, expressing concern over the case.
"Since his admission [21 April], the citizen has voluntarily refused to eat, maintaining this position until the present moment. This fact has caused concern for the prison management," said a release from Mozambique's National Penitentiary Service (Sernap).
Sernap says it has informed his family and lawyer to “persuade him to end the strike”, but, “despite these efforts”, the suspect remains firm in his stance.
The prison service added that he remains firm in his decision and has not yet presented the reasons for the hunger strike.
In the statement, Sernap added that it is monitoring the situation with due diligence, ensuring respect for the prisoner’s fundamental rights, as well as “strict compliance with the legal and humanitarian standards in force” in Mozambique.
Humberto Sartone, owner of the Kaya Kwanga guesthouse, located in one of the capital’s upmarket areas, and his alleged associates were detained on Tuesday following search and seizure operations at properties linked to the suspects, as part of an ongoing investigation. The alleged partners include Saleem Karim and Tarmomed Valai Mahomed, a Mozambican businessperson of Pakistani origin, along with his son Anass Tarmomed, according to Hilário Lole, spokesperson for the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic).
Lole said that authorities suspect the group belongs to an organised crime network involved in money laundering and document forgery.
Mozambique ranks among the African countries with high criminality and low resilience to organised crime, alongside Angola, according to the "Africa Organised Crime Index 2025" presented in Kenya last November.
The report quantified the rate of organised crime and resilience on a scale of one to 10. Mozambique, with 6.63, ranked eighth among African countries with the highest crime rates, in a list headed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) at the top of the continent’s ranking, with 7.47.
The Portuguese-language country gained 0.43 points since the last organised crime report in 2023.
LN/RYOL // AYLS
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