Police arrested them because they were carrying bullet-proof jackets
The Attorney-General’s Office intervened on Thursday to order the release of two Danish nationals, arrested by the Mozambican police in the northern port of Nacala on Monday.
The two Danes, Peter Junlet and Jack Nielsen, are security guards, who had been protecting a ship from possible attacks by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean and Mozambique Channel. They disembarked in Nacala, intending to return to Denmark.
The police say they arrested them because they were carrying bullet-proof jackets – the first time it has ever been suggested that possession of such protective clothing is illegal. The police spokesperson in Nampula province gave no other information, but promised to give further details “shortly”.
The two men were transferred to police cells in the northern city of Nampula. A spokesperson for the Justice Ministry confirmed to AIM that the Attorney-General’s Office ordered their release.
These arrests followed the seizure in late March of weaponry owned by shipping companies that was being stored at the Nacala police command. The General Command of the Mozambican police said that whatever arrangement the Nacala commander, Adriano Muianga, had with the shipping companies and their freight agents was illegal, because Muianga’s superiors did not know about it.
However, it later became clear that the Department of Order in the Nampula Provincial Police Command not only knew about the arrangement but had authorised it. The General Commander of the police, Jorge Khalau, said this was not good enough and only senior government figures, such as the Ministers of the Interior, of Defence, of Finance or of Transport, could authorise the entry into or transit through the country of military equipment.
These incidents have alarmed the security companies protecting shipping. Cited in the South African press, Nik Rogers, of the company Kenya Security Risk, based in Mombasa, which facilitates protection for international shipping companies travelling down the east African coast, said the two Danes “brought no weapons or any security equipment off the boat.
Their arrival was all coordinated with Mozambique officials, as usual, ahead of time, and suddenly they are arrested”.
The result is likely to be a loss of business for Nacala. “We will now have to stop using Nacala as a stop off point for international shippers trying to protect their boats and cargo”, said Rogers.
Source: All Africa
