Tag: crime

Crimes reported in first half of 2014 drop by six percent

The number of crimes reported to the Maldives Police Services in first half of 2014 has dropped by nearly six percent compared to the previous year, police statistics have revealed.

The total number of crimes reported within the first six months of 2013 was 7746, while this year it has come down to 7292 cases.

While there were reductions in all major categories of crimes reported, the most significant drops were seen in counterfeit and forgery case, and domestic violence.

Counterfeit and forgery cases – the least reported category of crime – dropped by nearly 38 percent, from 69 cases in 2013 to 43 in 2014.

The number of domestic violence cases lodged with police fell from 120 in 2013 to just 94 cases in 2014 – a fall of nearly 22 percent.

The number of domestic violence cases lodged at the police annually had been increasing gradually since 2010.

Local women’s NGO Hope For Women last year said the anti-domestic violence legislation enacted in 2012 did very little to improve the situation for victims of such crimes.

The organisation said that while the police were prepared for its implementation, but lack of mechanisms still left the force handicapped.

According to the police statistics, reported sexual offenses cases also dropped from 341 to 316 within the first six months of this year.

Theft – the most reported crime in both years – saw the second greatest reduction, with 3113 cases in 2013 to 2893 cases. Meanwhile, robbery cases increased by more than nine percent.

Drugs, the second most reported crime, dropped by approximately two percent – from 1974 in 2013 to 1929 this year. Assault cases were came down from 659 to 602 cases, while road traffic cases dropped from 1188 to 1156.

Commissioner of Police Hussain Waheed has said that reduced number of cases in the first six months was the result of the force’s special efforts to reduce crime with targeted objectives included in the MPS strategic plan and the annual business plan.

A survey published by ‘Transparency Maldives‘ earlier this year revealed a lack of public confidence in state institutions – including the police.

In the survey conducted among 1000 randomly selected individuals, 32 percent stated they had “no confidence at all” in the police, while the same number of individuals said they had a ‘great deal of confidence’ in them.

A UNDP sponsored human rights survey published by the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives in 2013 also revealed dissatisfaction with police services.

Approximately 32 percent of respondents were not satisfied with the police services. When asked what it was they were dissatisfied with, they mentioned the failure to deal with crimes, inability to contact in times of need, bias, torture and corruption.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Man with prior 24 year sentence arrested for assaulting a police officer

A man has been arrested in Hulhumeedhoo, Addu City, for obstructing police duties and assaulting a police officer. Police revealed that the man is currently sentenced to a total of 24 years in jail for previous criminal offences.

Four cases of drug abuse and one case of theft are included among the man’s criminal offences.

The detained man is a Maldivian national aged 36. Another man of 22 years, was also arrested along with him for obstructing police duties and attempting to flee while in possession of narcotics.

The 22-year-old man also has a previous record of assault with sharp objects and robbery.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Two arrested in Hoarafushi for selling illicit drugs

Police have arrested two individuals from the island of Hoarafushi for engaging in the widespread sale of illicit drugs.

According to the police, the two persons arrested on Wednesday night are local men both aged 19.

While the Hoarafushi Magistrate Court has extended their detention by ten days, police have stated that they are unable to provide further details as the investigation is ongoing.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Two persons arrested for theft

Maldives Police Services have announced that they have recovered part of MVR 50,000 stolen from an individual’s safe in the island of Madifushi in Thaa Atoll.

According to police, the underage daughter of the safe’s owner stole the money and gave it to her partner.

Police have arrested two Maldivian men aged 18 and 22. The 22 year old is reported to have a previous record of robbery and drug abuse. The men were arrested from a boat that arrived in Malé on Wednesday morning (June 18).

Police said they discovered MVR 27,000 from the 22 year old’s baggage and another MVR 3,300 from his wallet.

“While being questioned, the 22 year old man confessed that the money was given to him by his romantic partner on his request. He further stated that he has spent some of the stolen money, and hidden away MVR 15,000 on Madifushi,” police stated.

Police added that since the female accomplice is under the age of 18, she will be questioned in the presence of representatives from the Gender and Family Protection Unit.

Police have now recovered and returned a total of MVR 45,700 from the stolen MVR 50,000 to its owner.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Four persons arrested for possession of alcohol

Police have last night arrested four male persons for being in possession of 86 cans of beer.

According to the police, the cans were discovered while searching a boat docked at the jetty near the Malé waste yard on Sunday night (June 8).

While the police are further investigating the matter, they revealed that the arrested men include three Maldivians and one Bangladeshi.

The penalty for alcohol possession in the penal code – to be updated next year – is either a fine of between MVR1,000 to MVR3,000 or imprisonment, banishment, or house arrest for up to three years.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Extradited drug kingpin Shafaz brought to Malé

Convicted drug kingpin Ibrahim Shafaz Abdul Razzak – caught in Sri Lanka’s capital city Colombo on Tuesday – has now been transferred to the Maldives’ capital city Malé.

After being sentenced to an 18 year jail term, Shafa was temporarily released in February for three months to seek medical treatment in Colombo.

After his failure to return during the allocated time period which ended on May 5, Shafaz was arrested in joint operation between Maldives and Sri Lankan security personnel.

Earlier in April, Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer pledged to extradite Maldivian offenders from whichever country they were in.

“No offender should delude themselves into thinking that they can flee from the Maldives and peacefully live elsewhere. That cannot be done.”

“The first topic of discussion that I take up with leaders, Home Ministers and police leaders of every country I travel to is that in the instance there is a runaway Maldivian offender in the country, they should arrest them immediately and turn them over to the Maldivian authorities,” he said at the time.

Shafaz currently remains under police custody, but will be transferred to the Maldives Correctional Services.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MP Nihan slams police over dismantling of youth huts on Villimalé

Ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP for Villimalé Ahmed Nihan has criticised the Maldives Police Services decision to dismantle huts built by young people on public land.

Speaking to Minivan News, Nihan said Villimalé’s youth population had used the huts as social spaces for over 20 years. Destroying the huts – which the youth call home – without showing them alternatives will only cause more social problems, claimed the MP.

The police dismantled the structures on the suburban island on May 18, claiming the huts were built illegally and encouraged gang activity though no unlawful substance or tools were discovered during the operation.

Nihan’s criticism of adequate youth facilities has been echoed by the Maldivian Democratic Party.

“Young people often do not have space in their houses to bring friends over as their houses are congested, that’s why they use these huts to meet up with their friends,’’ said Nihan.

“They believe that the places belong to them and gives the place some identity.’’

Encroaching on public land is an offense, acknowledged the MP, although he took issue with the police’s approach to dismantling huts.

“My concern is that the police did not discuss the issue with any of the youth before destroying the huts and have not even tried to advise them or try to make them understand that what they were doing was wrong and illegal,’’ he said.

“Destroying the huts is not the solution – there are many other things that have to be sorted out if the government wants the youth to be more productive and to stop them from getting involved in illegal activities.’’

For one thing, a youth center with modern facilities was needed to stop young people from encroaching on public space or engaging in illegal activities, he said.

“The youth center here is not functional at all because the staff handling the youth centre are not permanent, and does not have much interest in  his work. The centre is not opened regularly and there is no space for modern sports or entertainment.”

“I have MVR181,000 (US$11,715) worth of music instruments with me but I don’t have a place where the youth can access them. I don’t want to bring them into the PPM office here because not all the youth are PPM supporters – they will shout ‘Golhaabo’ [an offensive term used to refer to Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] and run away,’’ he said.

Nihan also said that he had tried to take up this issue with Youth Minister Mohamed Maleeh Jamal but that the minister was too busy building stadiums for the ongoing Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge cup.

He called on the government to provide more job opportunities for the youth and to direct them to useful work.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Youth Wing Leader Mohamed Azmeel has also condemned the police’s actions saying: “I don’t think it is always drug dealers and gang members that hangs out in these spots. Besides, there are no other places to hangout.”

He noted that the new government had banned opening shops after 11pm to decrease crimes but that the crime rate has not dropped.

“We noticed that when police dismantled the huts, they targeted mostly places where MDP supporters hangout,” he said.

Youths construct structures on public spaces because there was no job opportunities for them and they have nothing to do, he added.

‘’If they don’t have anything to do they will gather to places like that to hangout,’’ he said. “The government pledged that 94,000 job opportunities will be created but they have not started implementing it,’’ he said.

While police claim the operation was carried out “after discussion with the city council”, Malé City Council – under whose jurisdiction the land currently is – has denied authorising the move, or being officially informed of it.

Despite recent assurances that the government’s youth policy was addressing the concerns of young people, youth leaders from all sides of the political divide have suggested a lack of youth participation in the administration’s planning.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

HRCM urges state to refrain from prosecuting children coerced into crime

With additional reporting by Daniel Bosley

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has noted the increase of child participation in serious crimes, stating that children coerced or forced into committing such crimes should not be prosecuted.

“It has come to our notice that children are taking part in serious crimes of late. As children are persons who are sometimes unable to reflect on their situations and judge wrong from right, the number of children who realise they are committing a crime will be few,” the commission said.

The HRCM described it as “unacceptable that some adults are coercing children to commit crimes so that they can remain safely in the background and free of legal repercussions while it is the children who are prosecuted for these crimes.”

“Crimes involving children must be fairly investigated, and those who coerce the children to commit those crimes must be duly prosecuted and brought to justice,” the statement continued.

The participation of young people in Malé’s prominent gang culture has been well documented, as have the links between organised crime and powerful local politicians and businessmen.

Police Commissioner Hussain Waheed also noted the increase in child offenders, stating that theft, assault, drug abuse, and mugging were the most common crimes into which children are coerced.

Waheed spoke of the importance of organising a national level movement to bring an end to children being forced to participate in criminal activity.

The HRCM called upon parents to be mindful and for the relevant state authorities to raise the rights of the child as their highest priority.

The commission’s statement – released on the occasion of Children’s Day – followed the government’s introduction of regulation enabling the reintroduction of the death penalty last month, which allows for the sentencing of juvenile offenders once they turn 18.

Urging repeal of the new regulations, the spokesman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, has said that such “deeply regrettable” practices contravened international law.

“We urge the Government to retain its moratorium on the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, particularly in cases that involve juvenile offenders and to work towards abolishing the practice altogether,” said Shamdasani.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Death penalty can be implemented starting today: Home Minister

The death penalty can be implemented in the Maldives starting today following the publication of procedural regulations in the government gazette, Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer has said.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Naseer said the chances of killing an innocent person after completing all the procedures in the regulation – titled “procedural regulation on investigating and penalising the crime of murder” – was “far-fetched” and “almost impossible”.

The regulation was formulated under the Police Act and the Clemency Act with the objective of specifying the procedures for investigating murders and implementing death penalty, and came into force today.

While Maldives has been maintaining an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty since 1953, several people have been sentenced to death over the years. The common practice had been for the president to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment through powers vested in him by Clemency Act.

With the new regulation, the president will no longer have this authority if a person is sentenced to death for murder by the Supreme Court, Naseer noted.

Both President Abdulla Yameen and Vice President Mohamed Jameel have expressed their support for implementing death penalty.

Procedures

The regulation only allows implementation of death penalty for intentional homicide or premeditated murder and only when the sentence is delivered by the Supreme Court.

A death penalty committee comprised of the Prosecutor General, Chief Justice (or someone appointed by him) and the Commissioner of Prisons have to send a written confirmation to the president that all procedures of the regulation have been followed.

After receiving this confirmation, the president is required to send an execution order to the Commissioner of Prisons within three days.

Within seven days of receiving this order, the Maldives Correctional Service (MCS) has to carry out the execution using lethal injection.

Naseer said the executions will take place at a building in Maafushi Prison, which is currently under construction.

Mediation process

The regulation requires Ministry of Islamic Affairs to mediate between the victim’s family and the convict.

Through this process, which reflects the Shariah principle of qisas (retaliation), family members who are ‘warith’ (heirs in Shariah law) will be given an opportunity to pardon the convict with or without receiving blood money.

The execution will not be carried out even if a single member of the family chooses to pardon the convict.

The family is given a ten-day period following the mediation to come to a decision.

“A first step”

According to the regulation, implementation of death penalty can be delayed if the convict is underage, till he or she is 18-years-old and if the convict is pregnant, until she gives birth and the child is two years old.

If a medical board appointed by the Commissioner of Prisons finds the convict is of very weak health, the sentence will be delayed till he recovers.

Responding to a question about implementing stricter punishments for other crimes as well, Naseer said the decision to implement death penalty for murder is just a first step and noted that “the Quran was also revealed through different stages.”

“Look at this as a first step. God willing, this government will take all necessary action for keeping peace and creating a safe environment for our citizens.” He said.

Naseer also noted that there maybe some countries and organisations which would be concerned over the decision, but said the Maldives will go ahead with it as a sovereign nation and a 100 percent Islamic country.

“There will be some parties who will be concerned about this. Concerned countries, concerned NGOs. Some counties are not too pleased with it [death penalty, but we will know about the issue of executing people in this country, the overcrowding of prisons in this country, how much the criminal environment is more lively in this country. And we are a hundred percent Islamic country and there are certain values that we all believe in,” Naseer said.

Likes(1)Dislikes(0)