More than 25,000 people arrested in five weeks in Mozambique

Aborder violations motivated about 95% of the arrests by the Mozambican police in the last five weeks, totaling 25,117 cases throughout the territory, according to official data compiled today by Lusa.

An analysis of the weekly operational reports of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) indicates that arrests for migratory offences accounted for about 95% of the total occurrences recorded between September 19 and October 30.

In the period under review, the MRP held 5,237 people between September 19 and 25, 5.516 between September 26 and October 2, 5.366 between October 03 and 9, 5.250 the following week and 5,169 between October 24 and 30, totaling 26,538 arrests, the equivalent of an average of about 5,308 per week.

Of these totals, 4,757 arrests for border violation were recorded between September 19 and 25, 5,237 the following week, 5,237 between October 3 and 9, 5,012 in the later period and 4,874 between October 24 and 30, making 25,117 cases, with the remaining related to other crimes.

Data from 2025 indicated that the Mozambican police were recording, according to PRM's history, more than 600 arrests for border violations every week, also without reference to nationalities. The country has land borders north with Tanzania, northwest with Malawi and Zambia, west with Swaziland and south with South Africa.

The weight of these events arises at a time when the government puts migration management back among the priorities of the security sector.

In the recent Coordinating Council of the National Migration Service (Senami), an entity responsible for migratory control, issuing travel documents and managing citizens' entry and exit movements, Interior Minister Paulo Chachine defended a more efficient and public interest-oriented migration administration.

“ The citizen expects efficiency, the investor predictability, the tourist facilities and the state security. These expectations must be reconciled through a professional and public interest-oriented migration administration,” the governor said, arguing that Senami must be a “strong, modern, professional, efficient and close to the citizen” institution.

“ Able to protect the gateways to our borders, ensure effective migration management, combat migration crime and provide quality services to citizens,” he said.

On the same occasion, Chachine warned of the need to strengthen the internal control mechanisms of the Senami, alluding to a case detected this year involving officials suspected of illegally facilitating migration processes.

The minister defended greater rigour in the supervision of services, increased vigilance at points considered most vulnerable and accelerated digitisation of procedures to reduce risks of documentary fraud.

“Senami must continue to strengthen the mechanisms for issuing, controlling and verifying documents, following technological developments and international standards to reduce the risks of falsification, counterfeiting and fraudulent use of our travel documents,” he defended, asking Senami to be “state security guarantor” and “expression of Mozambique’s hospitality.”.

Operations detailing the arrests were carried out by the PRM in coordination with the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) throughout the territory. In their weekly reports, the corporation classified the country’s operational situation as “relatively calm and controlled”, highlighting actions to maintain public order, crime prevention and migration surveillance.