Momade Bachir Sulemane: kidnapped in broad day

A wealthy Mozambican businessman branded a “drug baron” by the US government has been kidnapped at gunpoint, prompting a large police operation Thursday.

Momade Bachir Sulemane was seized Wednesday by a group of gunmen reportedly armed with AK-47 assault rifles from a mosque in a shopping centre in the capital Maputo.

Police spokesman Orlando Mudumane said he was bundled into a Toyota Prado 4×4.

Known locally as MBS, Suleman was in 2010 branded a “significant foreign narcotics trafficker” under the “Kingpin Act.”

He was subjected to a US assets freeze and visa ban, but remains well connected to Mozambique’s political and economic elite.

His last known public appearance came at a local business association banquet in September when he was seated close to president-elect Filipe Nyusi.

Suleman has reportedly made large donations to Nyusi’s Frelimo party, which has ruled Mozambique since independence from Portugal nearly 40 years ago.

He lives down the street from the presidential palace in a mansion boasting a large chandelier and a glass-walled entryway.

In a statement Suleman’s family called on the police to do all they can to speed his safe return.

He is the latest in a series of prominent Maputo businessmen kidnapped in recent years.

Mozambique is an important transit point for heroin and other drugs into Africa.