An 18-year-old man has been arrested after entering Billabong International High School with a machete during a gang assault.
Billabong Executive Director Ahmed Adhly Rasheed explained that a gang attack outside the school caused one individual to run into the school while the gates were open as pupils left for the day.
Police confirmed they were informed of a disturbance near Billabong school at 3:08pm, with another man was taken to hospital for treatment to head injuries received during the attack.
A third man arrested at the scene was later released after it was found he had not been involved in the incident.
Eye witnesses told Haveeru that a group of three men entered the school, one of them with a machete.
“Two of the men were captured by members of the public while the man with the machete was able to escape from the area,” said the eye witness.
As the timing of the gang violence coincided with the end of the school session, many students saw the attack up close.
The staff member explained that poor security has been a concern of the staff for a long period of time, noting that the neighbourhood was notorious for gangs and that anyone was free to walk into the school at any time.
The employee recalled an incident last year where a girl on her way to the school was injured after an assault by local gangs. The empty plot of land in front of the school is reported to be a regular meeting spot for gangsters.
Executive Director Rasheed, however, stated that the school has a strict security policy, with the gate closed and guarded throughout school hours.
“We have done what we can do to protect our children and staff from such incidences within our boundaries,” said Rasheed, who praised the school’s security measures for stopping the intruders.
“We have even reported the case of street violence each time in writing when a gang violence has occurred near the school even if it has nothing to do with the school.”
Gang violence has become one of the most prominent issues in the Maldives, with a 2012 study by the Asia foundation counting 20 to 30 gangs in the capital, each with 40 to 500 members.
Four recorded deaths have occurred as a result of gang violence so far in 2014, with one of them a case of mistaken identity.
Speaking in September, Home Minister Umar Naseer noted that he had identified around 50 gang leaders, and said that 13 of the 30 gangs in Malé could be considered “dangerous” criminal organisations.
Naseer linked the criminal activity strongly to gangs, saying “We cannot find a solution to the problem of stabbing and murders on the street without stopping drugs.”
*Article updated 24/11/14 to include responses from Billabong International High School
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@Hero
nasheed sent these gang people
Hey everyone. I'm really sorry. We were stoked up on some new combat drugs the MPS was handing out and we saw the yellow gate and we sort of thought it was a new MDP office or something...
I'm very sorry, I know what I did was wrong and I'll never participate in gang actions ever again.
How can these be "gangs" when MP Nihan has declared that there cannot exist any gang!
- The 'out of favour' Home Minister claims there are 20+ gangs
- The PPM PG leader Hon Nihan denies there is any
- President has called for the 'hot blood' of youth
PPM has clearly made a huge bet on 'youth' ( another name for gangs)
But how long can the Government keep them interested..?
There are no gangs is dhivehistan and the streets are filled with cash.
@Hon. Minister
The easy and well organized influx of hard drugs,pills, and availability of alcohol are just like stimulants in drug related violence. The core cause of all this mess among the young is 'rejection, emptiness, neglection, abuse and denial of freedom by families, government and society at large.
Not forgetting lack of recreational facilities and activities that could relieve the indoor stress kids go through. Education institutions in maldives are a new business entity owned by the wealthy ...hardly 10% of students get a decent job, girls with veils are exempted from tourism industry
Sports could be a therapy but that too hardly exist so kids are left glued on TV play stations, smoke dope n get laid and at times indulge in illegal activities. That's their life so taking drugs off the street (which is impossible) won't help. Go back to the root of youths frustrations, stress and depression n get a clue that may help get. Solution
These gangs run fron India by Mossad-CIA to destabilize Maldives.
Hey Kashim, you might try to cover for your gang buddies, but some of them have already confessed to the fact that the Yaagunda government is running them.
See, your gang thugs may be all muscle, but revealing certain interesting information to them causes them to confess all their crimes and cooperate with the interrogation in exchange for keeping said certain information a secret.
THE SECURITY AT THE SCHOOL IS NOT AT FAULT. THE MAIN GATE REMAINS LOCKED WHEN SCHOOL IS CLOSED AND ONLY ENTRANCE TO THE SCHOOL IS THROUGH THE FRONT OFFICE. THIS IS THE DAILY ROUTINE THAT I HAVE WITNESSED EVERYDAY WHEN I PICK UP MY CHILD AND GO TO PAY SCHOOL FEES THROUGH THE OFFICE DOOR.
THE FAULT IS IN THE LACK SECURITY THAT TAKES PLACE OUTSIDE ON THE STREETS THE MOMENT CHILDREN AND PARENTS WALK OUT OF THE GATE OR THEIR HOUSES WHERE GANG VIOLENCE IS COMMON PLACE, GANGS ARE UNDER POLICED AND GANGS ARE EVEN PROTECTED BY INSTITUTIONS.
@Kashim
You have to be a troll! Israel and CIA couldn't care less about Maldives, obviously. If Israel wanted to destroy this place, it would take 2 Mossad agents about ten minutes to defeat your pathetic and corrupt military/police "force".
@infidel woman
Why then does Israel sent doctors "eye of zion" and sponsor Nasheed? They try a foot hold in Islamic world through Maldives.
@Maldivian
This is a fake claim. If they confess a truth they confess that CIA, Mossad or RAW pay them. Probably you involve in this.
@Kashim
Are you a troll or just delusional?
The old "Jewish eye doctor/Israeli spy" story is a Maldives classic along with the cursed coconut in Guraidhoo and the black magic areca trees in Male'. The rest of the world is laughing at you (if they have even heard of you in the first place). They are not trying to get a "foothold in the Islamic world" by giving free eye exams to local island residents who can't get quality medical care from this incompetent government. (The eye doctors were people trying to help others out of good will. I know that volunteer work or work of any kind is a foreign concept to you and the rest of your kind so it must be a difficult concept to understand.)
Even the rest of the Islamic world doesn't care about Maldives, let alone Israel or the West. If Israel wanted to get a foothold in Maldives, it would just buy off your corrupt government officials who are clearly for sale to the highest bidder. Or it would send a couple Mossad agents to sort things out in a matter of days. They probably wouldn't even have to put down their cocktails to the job done.
It's amazing how Yameen/Gayoom's ridiculous nationalist rhetoric can trick Maldivians into thinking this country is of any sort of importance to the rest of the world. Get a life, get a job, etc.
Maldivians should stop fantasising that India or Israel or Mossad or CIA have any interest in the Maldives. You are too small, too insignificant and too boring to be of any interest.
'Billabong International High School'? Seriously, who thinks up these dumb names for schools in the Maldives? The yellow and red colour scheme for the building is also horrendous and the person responsible should be locked up for the public good.
I see the palm trees in the compound haven't yet been chopped down to save the president from black magic.
@miss India
Good comment.Our friend Hero will be very very angry
Thanks
Hello, I'd like to explain why they're so against free doctors.
It's because it cuts into their profit margins.
I got treated for free, for a treatment that costs 50,000Rf here in the Maldives.
This is why they consider it a 'foothold'. Anything that diverts illegal profit from them is considered unislamic.