A Portuguese national, José Pedro Alves da Silva, son of a former president of Sporting Clube de Braga, was fatally shot in Maputo in what Mozambican police are describing as an attempted robbery involving significant sums of money.
The 41-year-old victim was traveling in a car with both a driver and a security guard when they were intercepted by two vehicles last Friday, authorities initially suspected a kidnapping, but this theory has since been dismissed.
Mozambican police have now confirmed that the incident was an attempted robbery. “All indications point to a failed robbery attempt, resulting in this death… We rule out the possibility of a kidnapping attempt due to the modus operandi,” said Cláudio Armando, spokesperson for the Polícia da República de Moçambique (PRM) in the Maputo province.
José Pedro da Silva, the son of Alberto Silva, was shot dead amid an attempted robbery, with his vehicle being targeted with machine gun fire. The incident occurred around 1 p.m. local time (noon in Lisbon) in the outskirts of Maputo, known as Matola.
According to the police, Alves da Silva was shot in the chest inside his own vehicle by unknown assailants driving a BMW. He was traveling back from two of his business branches where he had collected cash. “He was inside his car, with his driver and his personal security. They were returning from two branches where they collected money. While heading to a branch in Machava, they were intercepted… We understand he was carrying large amounts of money, having visited at least two branches,” the police spokesperson explained.
Initial investigations suggest that Alves da Silva was shot with a pistol, although authorities admit that they lack “many details regarding the shooters.”
“We have already initiated our operational lines to identify and neutralize those involved in this heinous crime,” added the spokesperson.
The victim was pronounced dead on his way to the José Macamo Hospital in Maputo.
José Pedro Alves da Silva served as an administrator at ‘SOTUBOS’, a well-known company in the construction materials and tubing industry, owned by his father who resides in Portugal.
On Friday night, Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed his condolences in a public statement. “He offered his deepest condolences to the family, especially to José Pedro Silva’s father,” said the head of state.
