Swords seized recently by the Maldives Customs Services were imported to the Maldives in a shipment under the name of a company belonging to a “prominent” businessman, according spokesperson of the Maldives Customs Services, Mohamed Ibrahim.
Ibrahim however declined to reveal the name of the person or the company, “as the investigation of the case is ongoing.’’
A shipment of swords and 260 toy guns were intercepted by customs inspectors in July. The inspectors discovered the weapons inside a container imported to the Maldives that was originally loaded in China.
Photos of the guns released by Customs identified them as realistic-looking ‘Airsoft’ guns, which fire small, hard plastic pellets and can be purchased from toy shops in places such as Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
“The toy guns and the swords were both found in two containers imported by one cargo ship,’’ said Ibrahim. “But they were cleared by the customs individually so [the guns] were found on a later occasion.’’
Maldives Customs Services yesterday seized black masks and a high-voltage Chinese-made electric stun gun. Such weapons inflict pain and momentary paralysis when the two probes are applied directly to the target.
“The stun gun was found inside the baggage of a 22 year-old Maldivian who arrived from Colombo on flight UL107. Four black face masks were also found with him,’’ Ibrahim said.
“Another five black masks were found with a 25 year-old Maldivian who arrived with him. They have both now been handed over to police.’’
Aside from their luggage Ibrahim said the two men “looked decent” and appeared generally unremarkable.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the two men remained in police custody but would not give any more details of the case.
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emme adi ah gos ves kaaku thoa responsible vanee balan jeheyne. adhi emme haru kashi adhab liben jeheyne.
Prominent?
C'mon Police at least give us a hint on the nature of his businesses.
There are two possibilities:
1 - An attempt to frame the particular business man, OR
2 - An attempt to create terror in Maldives.
Which ever way it turns, I believe the CULPRIT should be punishable by HANGING at the Republic Square after making him shoot all the pellets, up his nostrils one by one from the high calibre toy guns in the consignment!
That will teach him a lesson not play with our PEACE and SECURITY!
Psh, whoever imported these things is either lazy or retarded.
All those weapons can be manufactured easily - locally. Even that stungun.
I have a very serious question to ask.
If them Johnny Sasaki-lookalike balaclavas were confiscated, will the police start confiscating the face-veil as well?.
Also, looking at those swords make me lol.
Did the Customs scratch the surface of a serious assassination attempt or a top-secret, super-underground cosplay group?.
Seriously, look at those things.
Things are heating up, it would be a good precautionary measure to round up all the street thugs as well, while continuing to investigate the case further.
I am sure if a poor guy had one of these swords, his name would be written all over the place. Release the name, Maldives Customs or who ever can... Stop protecting the name, the reputation of the rich and prominent whilst crushing the poor and vulnerable.
ok i hope this is not one of those cases where the police will say they can't reveal the names because of ongoing investigation, and after two months or so they don't reveal the names anyway and the pathetic excuse for reporters in this country will fail to follow up on it and forget about it....
Ahmed Aliased on Tue, 24th Aug 2010 3:59 AM
"...Customs scratch the surface of a serious assassination attempt or a top-secret, super-underground cosplay group?..."
LMAO
so if we had steel in this country, we would have killed us all.
nothing matters, after few days whoever is involved will be pardoned and released. according to top 'phsyco' this will make them stop all the criminal acts. 'Aneh Dhivehiraaje' is a SAD place to live now.
This is ridiculous!
All happenings, investigations.
It is good that the customs has released some information on this. We all know that we cannot rely on the courts/judges in the Maldives to do any justice. Hence the customs and police should give this businessman a few days to a week to proof his innocence without going to a court. If they cannot proof their innocence, the name should be publicized since these items would obviously be used against the public if it were not caught.
The big businessman (who ever it is) should be given a chance to publicly explain this as well to proof his innocence and tell the public whose fault this was, if it was done without his knowledge.
Guys, in accordance with giving someone a fair trial, a suspect's name is not supposed to be given by the press until he has been charged and then convicted. It's part of a notion of being innocent until proven guilty - something this country could do with being taken onboard.
@Ahmed Alias, As always its not surprizing to see some Maldivians will mock even for things done with good intentions and for the sake of peace to all. You asked "If them Johnny Sasaki-lookalike balaclavas were confiscated, will the police start confiscating the face-veil as well?" May I ask you if you were in the position of police chief and if you find the swords, will you start confiscating all knives from the kitches of households? If you wouldnt, then think yourself about the face masks vs women's face veil. I wonder why these ilm libifa thibbas hilm neh Maldivians wanna mock at everything...
Oyster.
You raise an even better question!.
What if they DO start confiscating kitchen knives!?!
HOW CAN I GET MY CHEESE SANDWICHES?! OMG!
This is pretty hysterical. The fact that the border patrol is so careful to stop decorative swords and Airsoft guns, but they will let any person through with a real firearm shipped internationally. I play airsoft and this is just dumb to me. They state that the guns can be converted into the real deal but there is no way that they can. They are toys, thats it. Check out this link for some good information on how airsoft works.
http://www.airsplat.com/airsoft-definition.htm
That's just nuts. For real? There are much more dangerous goods being smuggled in through airports. Why don't you crack down on drugs and real weapons? Everyone needs to read up on airsoft gun safety http://www.airsplat.com/airsoft-safety.htm