Author: Ahmed Nazeer

Police recover 330 beer cans drifting near presidential retreat of Aarah

Police have recovered 330 cans of beer found drifting near the presidential retreat of Aarah.

According to police, the beer cans were first seen by the crew of a passing boat and were reported it to police this morning at about 9:30am.

A team consisting of the police Drug Enforcement Department (DED) and marine police went to the area following the report and searched for the cans.

Last month, police discovered 52 cans of ‘Bintang’ beer drifting in the sea near Male’s West Park restaurant.

In March, police claimed to have discovered some beer cans and locally brewed alcohol at Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protest camp near the surf break.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Six men charged with murder of Ali Shifan deny allegations in court

The six suspects in the murder case of Ali Shifan, who was stabbed to death by a group of men in April, were produced before the Criminal Court yesterday and all of them denied charges.

A group of men arrived on motorbikes and stabbed 33 year-old Ali Shifan,of Maafannu Fairy Corner, while he was waiting outside the West Park Restaurant.

Police arrested six suspects and their names were forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office for prosecution. The six suspects were identified by the police as Ali Nabeeh, 22, of M.Nalahiyaa Manzil, Mohamed Shaifan, 18, of Male’ Dhaftharu no 3912,  Razzan Abdu Rahman, 19, of Kaanimaage house in Thulhaadhoo island of Baa Atoll,  Abdul Thilmeez, 20, of M.Thilmeez,  Mohamed Asif, 19, of Maafahi house inKurendhoo island of Lhaviyani Atoll and Mohamed Mishaan Abdul Haadhy, 20, of M.Silver Nest.

Today at court the prosecution lawyer submitted the charges against the six suspects and the judge determined that they were serious criminal offenses under the constitution and inquired as to whether the respondents would like to have a lawyer with the assistance of the state, which the six refused.

According to local media reports, the suspects requested the judge grant them the opportunity to appoint lawyers, and the judge gave them a period of three days to do so.

Newspaper ‘Haveeru’ reported that the judge told the six men that they had to produce witnesses in their defense to the next hearing.

The judge also said witnesses from the prosecution will be produced to the court on the same day, reported Haveeru.

A friend of Shifan told Minivan News at the time that the victim was attacked while he was waiting in front of West Park Restaurant for a friend.

‘’He was having a coffee inside West Park Restaurant and went out because a friend was coming to see him,’’ he said. ‘’He was waiting with another friend and this group shows up with sharp weapons.’’

‘’It was a long bladed knife and he is a very slim man. He was stabbed from behind and it went straight through his back and came out the other side,” the source said, claiming that Shifan had been stabbed twice.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Reeko Moosa to appear in court for opening ‘private court’

Police have concluded an investigation in to a case submitted to them by the Judicial Administration and Prosecutor General, regarding Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik pronouncement last year that he was opening his own court.

Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef said Tuesday that the case had been now closed and sent to the PG’s office, after an investigation was completed by the Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOC).

Earlier this month Moosa Manik was summoned to the police headquarters for the investigation over the case.

Speaking to the press after attending police headquarters, Moosa said police had inquired about the opening the court and other two cases, but said he chose to remain silent.

He also said that police officers investigating the cases were not able to tell what laws he had violated.

More recently, the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has investigated a case in which Moosa was brutally beaten by police officers on February 8, following the controversial transfer of power the previous day.

Moosa Manik was severely injured and was admitted to the hospital shortly afterwards, before being flown to Sri Lanka for further treatment.

The PIC has issued a statement saying that the case has been sent to the Prosecutor General for prosecution.

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General has sent cases against former President Mohamed Nasheed and former Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim to court.

Nasheed and the ex-Defence Minister have been charged detaining Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed during Nasheed’s final days in office.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MFDA warns of contaminated IVs imported from India

The Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA) has issued a statement warning all pharmacies and healthcare centres to stop usage and trade of certain Intravenous (IV) bags imported from India because of potential contamination.

MFDA issued an pharmaceutical alert informing that MFDA officials have discovered some black matter inside the IV bags manufactured by an Indian company named ‘Baxter ‘. The MFDA said that the black matter was discovered inside two batches of IV bags imported from the company.

The batch numbers of the two batches that foreign matters discovered were also given by the MFDA. The batch numbers were 10101192 and 10101199 of ‘Ringer lactate’ IV bags.

Maldives Food and Drug Authority said that IV bags have to be packed under certain safety conditions and the discovery of such foreign matters inside the IV bags imported from Baxter laboratories makes the quality of the product questionable.

The MFDA has not identified the matter discovered inside the IV bags.

According to MFDA, healthcare centres and pharmacies have now started removing the IV bags from sale and also warned that the use of contaminated intravenous bags could cause serious health problems.

Director General of Maldives Food and Drug Authority, Shareef Adam today told Minivan News that the authority had now informed all of the health centres, hospitals and pharmacies to remove the IV bags and not to use it.

Shareefa said that the MFDA had not received any information that anyone had used them.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Police arrest two alleged drug lords, including MNDF officer

Police on Thursday arrested two alleged drug lords believed to be controlling a wide network of illegal drugs in the Maldives.

The Police Intelligence and Drug Enforcement Department conducted a joint special operation to arrest the pair and find the drugs.

The operation was conducted on Thursday afternoon at 3:10pm. The pair arrested were aged 30 and 32, and included an Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) officer.

According to police, the 32 year-old man was brought under arrest near Kalaafaanu School and his body was searched.

Police discovered 20 bullet-sized packets of drugs in his right pocket, and 21 packets in his left pocket. The drugs were inside cigarette packets, police said.

Police also searched a cigarette packet he had discarded and discovered a further 20 packets of drugs.

During the operation police obtained a search warrant from the court and searched his apartment on the third floor of Thoddoogeyge in the Henveiru ward of Male.

When police searched a cupboard in the room inside the apartment, police discovered 40 bullet-sized packets of drugs and a further 406 grams of drugs.

Police said when the officers searched another cupboard they found two large packets containing a total of 1.28 kilograms of drugs.

A safe in the room was also found to contain more than MVR 300,000 (US$19,500) was also discovered and some US$3000 was also found inside the room, police said.

Furthermore, police said four digital scales believed to be used to determine the weight of the drugs and a packing machine were also found at the place.

Police said the 30 year-old man was arrested while he was inside the same apartment.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

High Court upholds lower court’s ruling to reinstate officer accused of rape

The High Court has upheld a Civil Court ruling to reinstate Police Lance Corporal Ali Nasheed to active duty, after he was accused of raping a young woman after abducting her in a police car in August 2010.

The High Court ruled there was not enough evidence to prove that Ali Nasheed was guilty of the crime and determined that he could only be relieved of duty if there was enough evidence to prove him guilty.

The state was unable to prove with the police investigation that Ali Nasheed was guilty of the crime, the court stated.

The High Court ruling stated that Ali Nasheed was dismissed by the Police Disciplinary Committee after allegedly violating the Police Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics.

The only evidence submitted to the court against Ali Nasheed was the call log of his cell phone on the night of the incident, and the areas in which the cell phone had been used that night. Those areas were related to the incident, the court was told.

The High Court noted that Nasheed had told the lower court that he was sleeping at the time of the incident and that his brother went out with his cell phone that night, and that he had nothing to do with the call log. Nasheed produced his brother to the court who confessed that he was the one who went out with Nasheed’s mobile phone.

The High Court said that when the Disciplinary Board investigated the case they did not obtain fingerprint evidence or DNA evidence from the police car S5241 that was alleged to be involved in the incident.

There was no evidence provided to the court to prove that Nasheed had met with or contacted the woman who was allegedly raped, the court stated.

Police Chief Inspector Risheef Thoha and Former ‘Mr Maldives’ Police Constable Husham Hameed alleged of being involved and playing a significant role in the incident.

The Police Disciplinary Committee relieved the officers of duty but the cases were then appealed at the Civil Court.

The Civil Court ruled that there was enough evidence to prove Police Chief Inspector Risheef Thoha guilty of the crime and upheld the Disciplinary Committee’s decision.

However, in August this year, the High Court overruled the decision made by the Civil Court and ordered that police reinstate his duties at the rank of Chief Inspector.

In August 2011 a close friend of the alleged victim told Minivan News the incident had occurred near the Seahouse restaurant in Henveiru.

“She would not be older than 22 years, she was friends with the police inspector,’’ the source said. “According to what she told me, she was partying with a group of four police officers, including a senior inspector, and they were all drunk.’’

He alleged that the incident occurred inside a police car.

“She said they threw her onto the street after sexually abusing her,’’ the source added.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Police shut down beauty salon over suspected prostitution

Police on Wednesday night raided a beauty salon located on the third floor of the ‘Kolkatha’ building near the ‘Campus’ store in Male’ as part of an ongoing operation to target businesses and individuals with alleged links to prostitution.

The Maldives Police Service’s Intelligence Department and Serious and Organised Crime Department announced they had conducted the joint special operation after receiving information that prostitution was taking place at the salon.

According to police, two female Bangladesh nationals and a Thai woman were arrested during the raid.  Two male Bangladesh nationals and a Maldivian man were also found inside the salon at the time.

After a search of the salon, officers reported they had discovered MVR 1055 and certain items used to conduct sexual activities, police stated.

The Police Serious and Organised Crime Department is further investigating the case.

Several beauty salons and alternative medical care centres suspected of being involved in prostitution have been closed after the government of President Mohamed Waheed Hassan came to power in February.

On Monday (September 12), police raided the ‘Sondo Bon Beauty Care Salon’ upon receiving reports that it had been operating as part of a prostitution ring.

Police raided the salon at 8:00pm and arrested three Thai women and two Maldivian men.  According to police, the Thai nationals were aged 21, 24 and 36, while both Maldivian men arrested were 30 years of age.

Police obtained a search warrant from the court and discovered items used for sexual purposes, as well as MVR 68,000 (US$4415) and US$200 in cash.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Police arrest staff, landlord of ‘Sondo Bon Beauty Care’ salon on charges of prostitution

Police raided the Sondo Bon Beauty Care Salon on Monday night following reports that a group of people were conducting a prostitution ring inside the salon.

Police raided the salon at 8:00pm on Monday night and arrested three Thai women and two Maldivian men.

According to police, the Thai nationals were aged 21, 24 and 36 and the Maldivian men arrested were aged 30. The landlord was 65 years-old.

Police obtained a search warrant from the court and discovered items used for sexual purposes, as well as MVR 68,000 (US$4415) and US$200 in cash.

Police said it was the second time police had to close the business. According to police, the same business was closed during an operation police conducted on May 2.

Those arrested were brought before the court which extended the detention period of the Thai nationals and the landlord to 15 days. The other men were sentenced to 10 days in custody.

Previously, the Islamic Ministry claimed police had confiscated MVR 63,000 and US$2,640 allegedly obtained through prostitution.

In the most recent salon raided, police discovered materials used for sexual activities, as well as controlled drugs,  US$2000 in forged currency, a large amount of money suspected to have been gained through prostitution, five bottles of unspecified alcohol, and a further three empty bottles.

Shutting down spas and massage parlors doubling as brothels was a key demand of a ‘mega protest’ on December 23 organised by eight political parties and religious NGOs to ‘Defend Islam’ against the allegedly liberal policies of the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) government.

Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla claimed during the December 23 demonstration that there were over 60 brothels operating in Male’ alone, double the number of mosques in the capital.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MNDF warns of bad weather, calls on seafarers to avoid sea travel

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has warned seafarers of bad weather and has called on them to take safety precautions when travelling by sea, and avoid such travel at all where possible.

In a statement, the MNDF warned seafarers to avoid travelling by sea on advice from the National Meteorological Department that the winds would reach up to 35-45 miles per hour.

Speaking to Minivan News, MNDF Spokesperson Abdulla Ali said that two days ago very regrettable incidents occurred relating to sea travel in different parts of the Maldives due to bad weather, prompting the warning.

Sixteen cases of incidents that occurred on sea due to bad weather were reported to police over the weekend.

These included the capsising of a speedboat with six passengers near Feydhufinolhu island in Kaafu Atoll. The passengers swam to Feydhufinolhu.

Another boat travelling with six passengers ran aground the same day and the passengers were initially not found by rescuers. They were later located near the Palm Beach Resort after police, MNDF and a boat from Naifaru in Lhaviyani Atoll conducted a search for them.

Police also said that some people who went to uninhabited islands for picnics had become stranded because of the rough seas.

Weather forecasts of the National Meteorological Department for today and tomorrow show that the Maldives will be experiencing widespread rain with isolated heavy showers and thunderstorms.

According to the forecast, winds will be light and variable becoming south/south westerly 3-11 knots in the southern atolls, with south-west/westerly 4-13 knots elsewhere.

The Meteorological Department forecasts that winds may gust 21-25 knot during showers and visibility will be 9 kilometres, reducing to 1-4 km during squally showers.

The state of the sea is slight to moderate in southern atolls and moderate becoming rough during showers for the rest of the country, and waves will be 3-6 feet in the open sea, according to the Meteorological Department.

Meteorological Department’s Spokesperson Ali Shareef was on leave and not available for comment.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)