Gauteng police praised for dismantling Mozambican notorious kidnapper Dollar Man
Police in Gauteng have been commended for the operation which led to the rescue of an Indian businessman following a shootout with Mozambican kidnapping kingpin popularly known as Dollar Man in Kempton Park.
On Thursday, IOL revealed that António Francisco Macamamo, known by his alias Dollar Man or simply Dollar, lived up to his nicknames in ways that terrified families across southern Africa.
He was one of Mozambique’s most wanted criminals, a man whose reputation for demanding ransoms in United States dollars became the mark of a shadowy career in transnational organised crime.
Macamamo was shot dead in Kempton Park, Gauteng province, on Wednesday evening during a police operation that also freed a kidnapped Indian businessman being held in Alexandra. The Mozambican’s death has shone a spotlight on one of the most elusive figures in the region’s underworld.
Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, Gauteng community safety portfolio committee chairperson Bandile Masuku said the take-down of Macamamo shows that police across the province are working to eradicate the scourge of kidnappings.
“Gauteng is known to be the epicentre of kidnappings across the country. The developments we saw show that there is some work that is getting done. Last week, when we had the (Gauteng) police commissioner appearing before the committee, he also indicated that they have made significant progress in dealing with these incidents of kidnapping,” said Masuku.
“There are different types of kidnappings that are happening. There are those where ransom is demanded, and there are those which happen through robberies or hijackings where the person is held, for a short time, against his or her will.
“This is significant progress and we like to applaud the police on the work that they have done,” said Masuku.
On Thursday, a well-placed source in Maputo told IOL that Macamamo was “one of the most wanted people by the criminal investigation police and identified as a top kidnapper.”
For years, Mozambican authorities had Macamamo high on their most wanted list for a string of high-profile kidnappings for ransom, often targeting wealthy business figures.
In Gauteng, a renowned security expert informed IOL that Dollar Man began his criminal career working for Mozambique’s most notorious murderer, Momade Assife Abdul Satar, known as Nini Satar, who died in prison last year.
“Dollar realised that kidnapping brought in a lot of money and decided to build his own network. He was ruthless and dangerous, even to journalists,” the source said.
According to some security sources, Macamamo demanded that ransoms be paid strictly in US dollars — a strict condition that earned him the nickname Dollar Man. The greenback is widely accepted as currency in several African countries, including Mozambique and Zimbabwe, making it the preferred currency for cross-border syndicates.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
IOL News