Police spokesperson Sub-Inspector Ahmed Ali confirmed that police were called around 4:00am this morning and are investigating the incident.
“A group of people went to the island and had a confrontation with staff. Staff at the resort held the suspects,” he said, confirming that they were Maldivian nationals. “When police arrived there was a body in front of the jetty.”
Sub-Inspector Ali declined to provide further details until the conclusion of the investigation.
General Manager of Baros, Jonathan Blitz, said the resort could not comment on the matter as it was under police investigation.
Minivan News understands that the deceased is 20 year-old Ali ‘Immortal’ Shafiu.
According to sources familiar with the incident, Shafiu was among a group of four masked men who arrived on the island at 3:30am.
He allegedly drowned while attempting to escape in one of the resort’s vessels, after security staff spotted the intruders.
One of the suspects was apprehended by resort staff, while the remaining two were arrested by police when they were found hiding in a resort boat in the lagoon.
It is not known if the men were armed, however no staff member or guest on the island was harmed during the incident, Minivan News was told.
Friends of the victim in Male’ who were present when the body was brought to hospital claimed Shafiu was dead when he was pulled from the water. The body appeared to have three head wounds, one of them “one and a half inches deep”, the source claimed.
The three remaining men are now under police custody.
Baros is the second Maldivian resort this year to suffer an attempted robbery by people from outside the island.
In Janurary, staff at Kihaadhuffaru in Baa Atoll were threatened by a group of masked men brandishing machetes and swords, who escaped in a dingy with the resort’s safe.
A receptionist was reportedly gagged with tape and restrained with a cable tie during the incident.
Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said at the time that he did not believe resorts would need to review existing security measures in light of the Kihaadhuffaru theft.
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