The family of Tanzania’s billionaire Mohammed Dewji, who was kidnapped last week in Dar es Salaam, on Monday announced a reward of nearly half a million dollars for information on his whereabouts.
43 year old Dewji was snatched by gunmen last week, as he entered a hotel gym in Tanzania’s economic capital last Thursday morning.
“The family is offering a reward of a billion shillings (R6.3m) to any person who has information leading to the whereabouts of our son,” family spokesman Azim Dewji told a press conference.
Interior minister Kangi Lugola said on Saturday that security forces were tirelessly to find Dewji. So far 20 people arrested have been arrested in relation to his kidnapping.
Foreigners have been implicated by officials in the abduction.
Dewji is chief executive of the MeTL Group, which operates in a dozen countries and has interests in agriculture, insurance, transport, logistics and the food industry.
He is listed by Forbes as Africa’s youngest billionaire, with a net worth of $1.5bn (R21.6bn) and ranks 17th on the list of African billionaires.