Abductors release Africa's youngest billionaire after nine days

Mohammed Dewji, a prominent Tanzanian businessman and Africa's youngest billionaire, who was abducted last week, has been found safe after he was released by the kidnappers early on Saturday.

The 43-year-old business tycoon was kidnapped by unknown miscreants from a luxury hotel on October 11 as he arrived for a morning workout in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's capital.

Dewji was found unharmed near a tennis court in the city at around 3:15 am (local time), where the kidnappers left him, CNN quoted regional police commissioner Lazaro Mambosasa as saying at a press conference.

Dewji, who was also present at the conference, thanked the police officers for rescuing him and shook their hands.

The Tanzanian businessman's disappearance attracted international attention, with his family offering a reward of one billion Tanzanian shillings (USD 440,000) for those who knew of Dewji's whereabouts.

Following his release, Dewji wrote on the METL group Twitter handle, a pan-African business firm in Tanzania, saying, "I thank Allah that I have returned home safely. I thank all my fellow Tanzanians, and everyone around the world for their prayers. I thank the authorities of Tanzania, including the Police Force for working for my safe return."

Dewji's METL group operates in six African countries. The organisation has massive holdings in textiles and food and beverage manufacturing businesses in Africa.

According to Forbes Magazine, Dewji, popularly known as Mo, had a net worth of USD 1.5 billion, describing him as Africa's youngest billionaire. He served two terms in the Tanzanian parliament before stepping down in 2015 to devote more time to his family business.