Maputo - A court in Mozambique's capital Maputo on Wednesday sentenced two Turkish nationals to a year in prison each after they were found guilty of molesting and sexually abusing 17 under-aged boys in a swanky city suburb.

Hamsa Cubukcu and Faty Kanbay were were also ordered by Maputo City Court to pay 3,000 dollars in compensation to each boy.

The Turks were arrested by police two weeks ago on charges of sexually abusing boys they had lured to a religious school on the pretext of learning about Islam.

The boys, aged 10 to 17, were held captive in a luxury house just 500 metres from a police station for periods ranging up to two years.

Handing down their sentence the court said the fact that the men had entered the country illegally and had no mandate to open a religious school had aggravated their case. (dpa)