Police have said that sharp weapons, drugs and a large sum of money were discovered by its officers in a search of a home in Addu City suspected of being linked to gang activities.
In a statement, the Maldives Police Service has said that a 46 year-old man was arrested in connection with the search, which was conducted by Addu City Hithadhoo Police Station.
According to the police statement, officers discovered two bayonet knives on the property; one inside a cupboard in the house and another outside the building.
MVR70,500 was also found discovered inside a cupboard in the house, while a can containing illegal drugs was uncovered buried outside the house.
Rubber packets used to distribute and sell illegal drugs were also found inside the premises, according to police.
Jumhoree Party (JP) Leader and MP for Alif Dhaal Maamigili, Gasim Ibrahim, has alleged corruption in the proposed sale of a stake in the Addu International Airport Company Ltd (AIA) to finance development of the Gan airport in Addu City.
The allegations were made in a six-page letter from the business magnate MP sent on Tuesday to President Dr Mohamed Waheed, which was leaked to local media last week.
The JP presidential candidate reportedly contended that the government had decided to sell a 30 percent stake in AIA to a local company named Kasa Holdings “without due consideration.”
‘Champa’ Hussain Afeef, tourism pioneer and business mogul, owns Kasa Holdings.
A consortium formed by the Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL), the State Trading Organisation (STO) and the Gan Airport Company meanwhile owns AIA.
AIA Managing Director Shahid Ali – also managing director of STO – confirmed to newspaper Haveeru in September that the AIA board of directors had decided to sell a 30 percent stake in AIA to Kasa Holdings for MVR60 million (US$3.9 million).
Shahid explained that Kasa Holdings and a Malaysian company had bid for the project following a public tender or announcement. He added that the Finance Ministry was consulted prior to the decision to sell the 30 percent stake.
Moreover, the bid announcement was made after the President’s Office approved the process, he said. However, the sale has been held up after the Transport Ministry asked the consortium to review the process and determine if the valuation was in line with the Public Finance Act.
Shahid said in September that AIA had requested legal advise from the Attorney General and that the government had not instructed the company on how to proceed.
Gasim meanwhile said in his letter that MVR60 million for 30 percent of AIA’s share was “a very small amount” as the value of the airport would be higher than MVR 3 billion (US$200 million).
Moreover, while US$44 million had been estimated as the cost of developing the airport, the JP MP claimed that the project could be completed with US$24 million.
An “open tender just in China alone” for the project would suffice to prove his assertion, Gasim wrote in his letter to Dr Waheed.
If the sale goes through, Gasim warned that Kasa Holdings would be positioned to acquire 70 percent of AIA by moving to sell 40 percent to a buyer of its choice.
“If a member representing the government does not attend a board meeting held to sell this 40 percent, Kasa Holdings will have the power to sell 40 percent of shares to whoever it pleases at whatever price it wants,” Gasim wrote. “In light of my experience on how these [deals] are completed, I have to say that the ultimate result would be the remaining unsold 40 percent being sold to a buyer of Kasa’s choice and the opening up of the opportunity for Kasa Holdings to control 70 percent, and within this opportunity, for [Kasa] to sell 51 or more percent of AIA to another foreign party.”
Gasim further contended that the move would pose a risk to national security, as the government would have no legal powers over the company.
Cancelling the agreement would mean paying the foreign party a “huge amount in compensation,” he claimed.
Gasim insisted that the Gan aiport should be developed by MACL and offered in his letter to reclaim land for the project free of charge “using my own dredger, employees and machinery with the government only providing oil.”
In October 2011, Gasim opened the Maldives’ first private airport at his native Maamigili with his ‘Flyme’ Villa airline landing the first flight in the new airport in Alif Dhaal atoll.
Gasim’s Jumhooree Party, part of the ruling coalition, is among parties calling for the nationalisation of the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport and cancellation of the previous administration’s concession agreement with Indian infrastructure giant GMR to develop and manage the Hulhule airport.
Police have arrested a number of individuals with illegal narcotics during the past two weeks in Baa Atoll, Addu City and Raa Atoll.
According to police media, a male suspect aged 21 was arrested with 11 packets of hash oil in an operation conducted in Baa Atoll Dhonfanu on October 18.
In a second arrest in Baa Atoll two days later, a female suspect aged 24 was taken into custody with nine packets of hash oil on October 20 from a launch traveling from Male’ to Baa Atoll Thulhadhoo. The arrest was made based on information received by police intelligence and the drugs were found in the suspect’s hand bag.
Both cases are being further investigated by the Baa Atoll Police Station.
On October 23, two male suspects aged 29 and 40 were taken into custody from an uninhabited house in the Maradhoo district of Addu City. The men were caught using drugs and were arrested with 20 rubber packets of suspected heroin as well as drug paraphernalia.
The arrests in Addu City were made based on information received by police intelligence. Both men tested positive for opiates at the Gan Police Station.
Meanwhile, a female suspect aged 20 was arrested on Thursday, October 25 from a boat traveling from Male’ to Raa Atoll Meedhoo. Based on a tip-off to police intelligence, the suspect was arrested from the boat when it arrived in Meedhoo and was taken to the Raa Atoll Ungoofaru Police Station.
Illicit narcotics were found in her possession when she was checked at the police station.
In the same atoll, a male suspect aged 33 was taken into custody yesterday (Friday, October 26) in Raa Atoll Dhuvafaru during an operation conducted by the Dhuvafaru Police Station. A rubber packet containing suspected drugs was found in the suspect’s shorts when he was searched at the police station.
The Dhuvafaru Police Station on October 23 began a special operation to curb crime and traffic violations during the ongoing Eid holidays.
The Criminal Court has given Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Rasheed ‘Matrix Mode’ the opportunity to appoint an attorney to defend himself from charges of terrorism.
The MP for mid-Hithadhoo constituency, along with 43 other protesters including a city councillor from Addu City, are facing terrorism charges for their involvement in the events that took place on February 8, a day after controversial transfer of power in the Maldives.
Following the controversial transfer of power on February 7, thousands of MDP supporters, led by ousted president Mohamed Nasheed, took to the streets opposing the newly installed regime, claiming that it was an illegitimate government installed during a police and military mutiny.
The protesters were met with a violent police crackdown that saw numerous protesters injured and detained, including ousted President Nasheed himself.
Retaliatory protests spread across the country including the southern MDP stronghold of Addu, where Mayor Abdulla Sodig was beaten by protesters and taken to the Addu regional hospital. Several government buildings including police stations and courts were set ablaze during the chaos.
Out of the 43 people now facing criminal charges, hearings for 36 protesters have been previously carried out. None have yet been sentenced.
During Sunday’s hearing, Rasheed and another participant of the events of February 8 were given three days to appoint an attorney to represent them in court.
The state attorney did not read the charges in the hearing, but the Prosecutor General (PG) earlier told local media that Rasheed was charged for allegedly threatening police on the Seenu Gan course way.
He is also charged with inciting violence and calling upon protesters to attack Seenu Gan Police Station and the officers there, and calling for people to attack the Feydhoo Magistrate Court and Hithadhoo Police Station, the PG said.
The PG also said that the MDP MP was charged under article 2(f) and 2(g) of the Anti-terrorism Act, and also article 6 of the same act.
If Rasheed is found guilty of the charges, he will face a sentence of 10 to 15 years imprisonment or banishment, which will cost him his seat in the parliament.
After the hearing, in a brief statement given to media, Rasheed rebutted the charges stating that he “was not someone who would attack on public property”.
“I am one of those people who worked very hard to bring developments to Addu City during the tenure of [former] President Mohamed Nasheed. Why would I call upon the people to do something to destroy that? I do not believe this,” he said.
He further stated that the supporters of the current government and the media outlets that are politically aligned to government had continuously accused him of being a terrorist, but said the case itself revealed that he was not a terrorist.
“It is only today I have come to know of the charges. Government aligned newspapers, police and senior officials of this government including ministers and the Presidents’ office spokesperson are accusing me of setting ablaze public property and carrying out terrorist attacks,” he said.
“But according to the charges levied up against me, it is not true. The criminal charges do not mention that I did such things, instead the case is built on what I said,” he added.
Last August the PG pressed terrorism charges against more than 40 individuals accused of setting the Seenu Gan police station on fire on February 8, including many MDP activists and elected officials.
The former ruling MDP condemned the “false charges” pressed against “elected representatives of the people of Addu City” and a number of citizens as “politically motivated”.
In a statement, the party said that it believed the charges represented “a deliberate attempt by the regime to destabilise the country”.
“Aside from politically motivated legal action, senior members of Dr Waheed’s regime, including Home Minister Mohamed Jameel, have publicly stated that the regime will arrest President Nasheed and ensure he spends the rest of his life in jail. These statements have been made despite the fact that a trial has not taken place, and while the Minister himself has stated that the ‘judiciary seems to be operating wantonly… and needs to increase public confidence,’” the statement read.
The government of President Mohamed Waheed Hassan has promised that action would be taken against the “terrorist acts” of the protesters and will be brought to justice.
No action has been taken against the police accused of brutality in the February 8 crackdown, however one officer indicted by the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has since received two promotions.
An MP and a Addu City Councillor both facing charges over alleged involvement in a series of arson attacks on February 8 this year did not attend a Criminal Court hearing of their cases today.
MP Mohamed Rasheed and Addu City Councillor Ahmed Mirzad were reported not in attendance during today’s court hearing as an official chit could not be delivered to either of the men, according to the Sun Online news service.
The two men are among 40 suspects currently facing trial over allegations of involvement in attacks on several state buildings during unrest and violent clashes with authorities that occurred in the country’s second city on February 8.
Local media has said that 32 of these suspects were in attendance for the trail today,with Sun reporting that hearings within the 12ft by 13ft court room could only be held three suspects at the time.
A court official told Sun Online that the majority of the eight suspects who had failed to attend today’s trial had not reportedly received their respective chits – mostly as a result of working abroad.
A police crackdown on a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) march across Male’ on February 8 that left dozens of demonstrators injured was “brutal” and “without prior warning,” the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) concluded in an investigative report (Dhivehi) made public yesterday.
Based on its findings, the HRCM recommended that the Maldives Police Service (MPS) and Police Integrity Commission (PIC) should investigate the “disproportionate” use of force in violation of police regulations authorising use of less-lethal weapons. Legal action should be taken against the officers responsible for any such offences, the commission concluded.
“This commission notes that the human rights of a number of people were violated as a result of police using disproportionate force in violation of the constitution, the Police Act and regulations, and international conventions the Maldives is signatory to in dispersing a gathering of MDP supporters at the MMA [Maldives Monetary Authority] area on 8 February 2012 ,” the HRCM report concluded.
“The commission believes that those who carried out these acts must bear responsibility.”
On February 8, thousands of MDP supporters took to the streets after former President Mohamed Nasheed declared that his resignation the previous day was “under duress” in a “coup d’etat” instigated by mutinying Special Operations (SO) police officers.
The HRCM report on the human rights violations that occurred on February 8 was compiled based on interviews with senior MDP leaders who participated in the walk, police commanders, senior military officers, eyewitnesses, victims of police brutality and media personnel as well as photo and video evidence.
An injured protester
While 32 people filed complaints with the commission concerning varying degrees of injuries sustained in the crackdown, 20 people submitted medical documents of their treatment of injuries.
Among the injuries caused by the police baton charge, the HRCM report noted that several people were bruised and battered, one person fractured a bone in his leg, one person was left with a broken arm and six people sustained head wounds.
Two fingers on the left hand of one demonstrator were crushed, the report noted, and the victim had to undergo treatment at the operating theatre.
The former ruling party meanwhile informed HRCM that the march across Male’ was spontaneous and that the party had not planned to stage any protests on the day.
According to the MDP, participants of the walk were sitting down at the MMA area when the police charged without warning and caused serious injuries, noting that most people were attacked from behind.
Senior members of the party told the commission that police were asked to let MDP supporters continue their march along the outer ring road of Boduthakurufaanumagu.
MDP claimed that police refused to transport victims of the alleged brutality to the hospital and that former President Nasheed’s military bodyguards left the area before the baton charge.
“Emotionally charged”
In interviews with senior police officers and commanders in the field on February 8, the HRCM was told that police intelligence had learned that the MDP supporters were planning to “confront” police officers.
Participants of the MDP walk “attempted to cause damage” to the Family and Child Protection Unit building and Galolhu police station, the officers claimed, at which point they determined that the gathering was not peaceful.
Police did not allow the march to continue because participants could have entered the Republic Square or green zone, where gatherings are prohibited under freedom of assembly regulations.
Police further claimed that protesters hit police shields and that armed gangs “under the influence of drugs” were part of the crowd.
While protesters did not cross the police line, the senior officers said that rocks were thrown at the police. About 30 riot police and plain-clothed officers from other departments were in the area at the time, police said.
While police conceded that “a large number of civilians were injured by police officers” on February 8, senior officers interviewed by the HRCM revealed that the riot police were not acting on commands.
The violence occurred “because individual police officers were too emotionally charged at the time,” the senior officers said.
“And when civilians were getting injured by individual police officers, [they said] senior police officers went to the area and attempted to gather all police officers in one place,” the report stated.
The senior police officers further claimed that police were “very psychologically weakened” due to the events of February 7.
Following the crackdown, police admitted that “use of force” forms were not filled out and an “after action review report” was not drafted as was required under normal procedure.
Meanwhile, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) informed HRCM that about 15 soldiers were active in the area during the crackdown, but claimed that military personnel did not witness police brutality.
When the protesters reached the MMA junction, they began striking the MNDF riot shields and throwing water bottles. They were then pushed back about 20 feet, where they sat down, the MNDF explained.
Contrary to the HRCM’s findings, the MNDF claimed that police advised the protesters to disperse and issued warnings before advancing with riot shields.
Military personnel used coloured smoke “to minimize damage and for ease of controlling those gathered,” the MNDF informed the commission.
Concluding observations
Opposition-aligned private broadcaster Raajje TV meanwhile provided video footage to HRCM showing the arrest of MDP MPs ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, Mariya Ahmed Didi, Imthiyaz Fahmy and Ibrahim Rasheed.
MDP Chairperson 'Reeko' Moosa Manik
An HRCM team that visited Dhoonidhoo detention centre observed “bruises all over the body” of one of the MPs, while her eyes were bloodied and swollen.
The commission noted in its concluding observations that police officers “acted very harshly” towards the politicians “in ways that could cause physical and psychological harm” even though they showed “no resistance.”
While the Raajje TV cameraman was shooting the arrest of MDP Chairperson Reeko Moosa Manik, HRCM was told that two plain-clothed officers “pushed and shoved” Raajje TV reporters to the Republic Square and severed the camera cable, ending the station’s live feed.
However, in its concluding observation, the commission reprimanded the private broadcaster for their coverage of the events, which “incited fear and hatred among citizens, instilled a spirit of vengeance and caused serious damage to private and public property.”
Conversely, the commission noted that reporters from private broadcasters DhiTV and Villa TV – alleged by the MDP to have incited hatred against the administration of former President Nasheed and promoted the “coup d’etat” – were “threatened and intimidated” by MDP supporters and were consequently prevented from covering the march.
The HRCM also noted that students at Immadhudeen School during the afternoon session were adversely affected by the MDP supporters gathering outside the party’s Haruge camp on the afternoon of February 8. The party’s gathering area was ransacked by rogue riot police and army officers prior to President Nasheed’s resignation.
The commission contended that MDP supporters were loud and used obscene language outside Haruge, which was reclaimed by supporters led by President Nasheed to the area after the MDP national council meeting earlier in the day.
Citing article 72(b)(1) of the Police Act, which prohibits “commission of an act that could obstruct the execution of any of the police powers and discretions, or plotting to commit such an act, or participate in the commission of such an act, or call for or encourage or assist others to commit such an act,” the HRCM claimed that MDP supporters who participated in the walk “obstructed the performance of police duties.”
Moreover, the commission noted that patients and staff at hospitals ADK and IGMH faced “serious difficulties and inconveniences” due to MDP supporters gathering outside both hospitals following the police crackdown.
However, the BBC reported “a baton charge by police on crowds gathered outside one of the main hospitals.”
“People scattered as officers sprinted towards them silhouetted against the lights of passing traffic,” the BBC’s Andrew North reported from Male’. “Inside the hospital, dozens of Mr Nasheed’s supporters are still being treated for injuries, following earlier scuffles in the main square. Among them is Reeko Moosa Maniku, chairman of Mr Nasheed’s Maldives Democratic Party – who was with the former president when the clashes broke out. With a large head bandage and his shirt bloodied, he regained consciousness as we arrived. The police said they would kill me, he told us, as they beat me. Another MP was still unconscious in another ward.”
The crackdown
While riot police baton charged the front of the protest march on February 8, Minivan News observed riot police officers charging the crowd from a narrow alley leading to the MMA area.
The Special Operations officers used obscene language, pointed to and chased after individual MDP activists and severely beat unarmed civilians.
Parts of the attack from the rear were filmed by Al Jazeera, which reported on February 8 that “police and military charged, beating demonstrators as they ran – women, the elderly, dozens left nursing their wounds.”
Amid the clashes, a group of opposition demonstrators infiltrated the crowds, attacking MDP supporters, according to witnesses.
Former President Nasheed was reported among the injured, and received head injuries during the clashes. He was briefly taken under police custody before being released back into the crowd.
Minivan News also observed several youth with head injuries queuing up for x-rays in the waiting area outside the reception area at IGMH.
One young woman who had gone to IGMH with her sister was being treated for a head wound. A gauze wrapped around her head was spotted with blood, and she claimed the wound was still bleeding as she went in for an X-ray.
“The police were just standing there and suddenly we were being beaten with batons and pepper spray was thrown in our face. They threw us to the ground and kept beating us,” she said.
Explaining that she, her sister and most women had joined the party’s “walk around Male” because they understood it was not a violent protest, the young woman said she had never seen indiscriminate beating of men and women on Male’ under Mohamed Nasheed.
“It was just supposed to be a peaceful walk. That’s why we went, and why more women than usual went. But there was no warning of the attack, no announcements, we were all beaten even after we began retreating. My sister was almost trampled,” she said. “I just think it’s disgusting that the police could beat so many unarmed women.”
The Prosecutor General has pressed Terrorism charges against 21 Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protesters for damage to state property on February 8, for allegedly setting fire to the court and police station in Addu City.
Nationwide protests erupted on February 8 following the controversial transfer of power the previous day. Former President Mohamed Nasheed resigned amid a police and military mutiny, and later alleged this was under duress.
The protests were sparked after a brutal police crackdown on large numbers of demonstrators who attempted to enter Republic Square that afternoon, including the former President, MDP MPs and supporters.
A Minivan News reporter who was injured in a baton charge, at the time described the involvement of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s ‘Starforce’ officers: “They were beating old women with batons,” he said. “It was just like the old days.”
The protests spread across the country, with demonstrators targeting police and court buildings. Police officers were in some instances evicted from islands. The worst of the destruction occurred in Addu City, the country’s second most populated area after Male’, and an MDP stronghold.
A police crackdown followed in Addu, and was the subject of a report by international human rights organisation Amnesty International.
In one instance, security personnel “reportedly entered the MDP office in Hitadhoo, where more than a dozen women protesters had run for shelter. They chased the women into the storage room of the building and began to beat them,” Amnesty reported.
“Amnesty International learned that one woman had her arm twisted and sprained when MNDF soldiers grabbed her. They then took her glasses off, forced her to open her eye and sprayed it with pepper spray. She said they pressed her against the wall and kicked her with their boots.
“Another woman said that they began to beat her on her breast, repeatedly shouting they would see to it that she does not breast feed again. A third woman showed her badly bruised arm where she said that soldiers had severely and repeatedly beaten her.”
Amnesty noted that both sides had blamed each other for promoting violence, and that human rights in the Maldives “have become heavily politicised.”
In a statement today, the Criminal Court said the 21 protesters were accused of vandalising the Police Station at Addu, vandalising the Police School, the Addu City Court, and the Prosecutor General’s Office at Addu City on February 8.
The Criminal Court said that they were charged according to Anti-Terrorism Act article 2[f][g] and article 6[b].
On February 8, the [olice station on Milandhoo in Shaviyani Atoll and the station on Velidhoo in Noonu Atoll were reportedly taken over by MDP supporters.
In March, Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed the arrest of 17 people on Thinadhoo in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, who were involved in vandalising property and creating unrest in the island on February 8.
‘’Those people are people whom we have pictures and video footage of their involvement in the incidents that day,’’ Shiyam said at the time.
In April, the President of the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) Shahindha Ismail told the Parliament’s Independent Institutions Oversight Committee that police actions on February 8 were unlawful, and that police officers had used undue force to disperse the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) demonstration.
In May police said they have concluded investigation into arson attacks against government offices and the police station on Thinadhoo in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll on February 8, and sent the names of 108 persons to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The government has denied reports in the media that a private Israeli jet carrying tourists to Shangri-la Villigilli Resort landed in Addu City this week.
President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza dismissed the claim today as “completely false.”
“The government’s stand is that [the claim] is a lie,” he asserted, suggesting that the rumours originated from staff at the airport.
Two officials at the Addu International Airport Company Ltd (AIACL) told Minivan News that the private jet departed yesterday after spending four days at Gan International Airport.
An airport official told Minivan News on condition of anonymity that the Gulfstream Aerospace G200 flight (4X-CLL) arrived on Sunday with tourists from the Jewish state, and had been parked at the Gan Airport for four days prior to its departure in the morning yesterday.
Banning Israeli flights to the Maldives was among five demands made at a ‘mega-protest’ on December 23, organised by a coalition of eight parties and religious NGOs to ‘Defend Islam’ against the allegedly liberal policies of former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration.
Following the change of government on February 7, the ruling coalition-dominated parliament passed a resolution on April 25 preventing Israeli national airline El Al from operating scheduled flights to the Maldives.
El Al had applied to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in May 2011 requesting permission to fly to the country starting in December 2011, prompting the religious conservative Adhaalath Party to warn of a potential terrorist attack “due to the commencement of Zionist Israel’s flight operations to Maldives.”
Adhaalath severed its coalition agreement with the then-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in September, soon after the Transport Ministry granted a licence to El Al to begin operations to Maldives.
Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla and Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed were not responding at time of press.
“First Israeli flight”
Speaking to Minivan News, an operations officer at Gan International Airport explained that a large number of private jets routinely fly to Addu City with “rich tourists.” The official stressed that authorisation for the flight to land in the Maldives would have been granted by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Officials from the department were unavailable for comment at the time of press.
Community news site Addu Online meanwhile reported that according to an AIACL official, the private jet arrived on Sunday from Israel after transiting in another country.
The community website claimed that jet was operating under a license granted to the Israeli Amateur Radio Club. According to Addu Online, the private jet was the first flight from Israel to land at the Gan airport.
Speaking to Minivan News in April last year, former Transport Minister Adhil Saleem defended the MDP government’s decision to authorise Israeli flights, arguing that it would create opportunities for both Israeli tourists to visit the country as well as facilitate pilgrimages for Maldivians to the al-Aqsa mosques in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam.
“Some Maldivians see Israel as controversial over the issue of Palestine. Yet Palestine accepts Israel as a state, benchmarking the point that I don’t see why we should not allow these flights.”
Saleem said that the Maldives already played host to a number of Israeli tourists at its resorts and that authorising Israeli airlines would allow for a greater influx of guests to the country’s tourism industry.
Police have arrested five suspects for allegedly gang-raping a 17 year-old girl in Addu City after midnight last night.
A police spokesperson told Minivan News that the incident occurred at about 1.00am.
“Police received information about the incident at about 1.50am,” he said. ”Police are now investigating the case.”
In addition to two minors aged 17, the other three suspects were aged 19, 20 and 23, police said.
According to local media reports, the victim was abducted and taken to an abandoned house while she was on her way to work.
Newspaper Haveeru reported that a man who drove her to work was involved in the rape and took her to the abandoned house.
In a similar case reported in Addu City during November’s SAARC summit, a police officer was arrested on charges of raping a married woman with two other men.
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