A 23-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder last year was found dead in a residence in Malé around 10:00am on Monday morning.
According to local media, the man from Fuvahmulah was arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old Ahmed Mafaz in December last year. He was reportedly released after being held in remand detention.
The police declined to reveal further details and have yet to determine the cause of death.
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(0)A 19-year-old victim of an assault in Addu City last night died this morning while undergoing treatment for injuries.
Local media has identified the deceased as Hussain Shiar from the Atheena house in the Hithadhoo ward. He was stabbed in the back and the head.
A police media official said the assault victim passed away around 10:45am. He was being treated at the intensive care unit of the Hithadhoo regional hospital.
The media official said the hospital had reported the assault to police.
No arrests have been made yet. According to local media, Shiar was attacked by masked men who entered his home around 11:00pm last night.
But the police media official said the assault occurred on the street.
In November last year, masked men forcibly entered a home in the Maradhoo ward of Addu City and assaulted a father and son. The incident followed the arrest of a 23-year-old from Maradhoo on suspicion of attacking a 34-year-old with a machete the previous night.
Shiar’s fatal stabbing meanwhile marks the sixth murder this year.
In late March, the police launched a joint security operation with the army following the the murder of a 29-year-old man in Malé.
Police officers and soldiers began patrolling the streets of the capital, checking vehicles, and stopping and searching individuals in an effort to curb gang violence.
A 23-year-old was stabbed to death outside his home in the Henveiru ward of Malé on February 21, whilst a 29-year-old was killed in Laamu Mundoo on March 20.
Two were Bangladeshis also murdered and four expatriates stabbed in a spike in violence against expatriates in March.
(0)Dislikes(0)The chief suspect arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 35-year-old man on the island of Thulusdhoo in Kaafu atoll has confessed to murdering the victim in an act of revenge, Chief Inspector Abdulla Satheeh told the press yesterday.
Mohamed Niyaz, 34, confessed to investigators that the victim, Ali Shiham, had accused him of stealing from a construction site under the latter’s supervision, Satheeh explained.
Satheeh noted that Niyaz had previously been arrested 10 times in relation to theft and drug abuse offences.
Niyaz had voluntarily submitted to police on the night of the murder. Satheeh said police have wrapped up the investigation and forwarded the case to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Briefing press on the fatal stabbing of an 18-year-old man in Malé on August 2, Satheeh said that the victim – Mohamed Mazin, of Dhiggamaage in Noonu Miladhoo – had no connection to gangs in the capital.
Of the four suspects connection with the murder, Satheeh said a 22-year-old suspect was arrested from Vilifushi in Thaa atoll, noting that all four had criminal records for assault.
(0)Dislikes(0)An 18-year-old victim of a violent assault in Malé died last night while undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit in the second fatal stabbing in the space of three days.
Local media identified the deceased as Mohamed Mazin, from Dhiggaamaage in Noonu Miladhoo, who was residing in Henveiru Shaiban in the capital.
Mazin was assaulted on Saturday morning around 9:50am near the Henveiru Park along with Ali Arif, 18, also from H. Shaiban.
Police said Mazin had three stab wounds on his back while Arif was stabbed in the ribcage.
A 34-year-old was also stabbed to death on the island of Thulusdhoo in Kaafu atoll on Thursday night (July 31).
Police have since arrested 12 suspects in connection with the spate of violent assaults in the capital during the past six days.
Police revealed yesterday that the Criminal Court has extended the remand detention of three suspects while the other nine remained in temporary police custody as of last night.
“Efforts are also underway to locate other suspects,” according to police media.
The serious and organised crime department was collecting CCTV camera footage from across the capital, police said, and searching for suspects based on information relayed by members of the public.
The stabbing of the 18-year-old pair yesterday brought the number of victims of violent crimes during the past week to nine.
On the previous night (August 1), a 19-year-old was stabbed near the Henveiru Park and hospitalised after sustaining head injuries.
Last week, four men and a woman were assaulted in separate incidents. While one man was mugged in the Maafanu ward, two men were stabbed in Hulhumalé, a woman was stabbed in the back in the Galolhu ward, and a fourth victim was stabbed in the Henveiru ward.
Prior to the recent fatal stabbings, there had been 29 murders in the Maldives since 2007.
Meanwhile, the Jumhooree Party has called on the government to take necessary measures to curb the escalating violence while former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom called for “murderers” to be “caught and punished according to law.”
“Where are the killers of Afrashim, Muheeth, policeman Haleem and others?” the leader of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives tweeted.
Task force
Police meanwhile revealed that Chief Inspector Ibrahim Naveen, head of the central operations command, together with commanders of relevant departments have commenced “special efforts” to curb the spike in violent crime “on the advice of Commissioner of Police Hussain Waheed.”
A task force committee has been formed to supervise and oversee the efforts, police said.
Similar task forces were set up in recent years to combat gang violence in the capital, most recently in May 2013 after four stabbings in 48 hours.
As part of the present efforts, police have been stopping and frisking individuals and searching residences based on intelligence information.
Police are also searching for individuals “suspected of committing violent assault with sharp objects”.
Moreover, the Specialist Operations (SO) department along with Malé City police and traffic police would be questioning and frisking individuals “loitering on the streets with no purpose” both after midnight and during the day.
Security operations have also been stepped up in Vilimalé and Hulhumalé.
As police were finding it hard to identify suspects due to “difficulties” obtaining information from eyewitnesses at crime scenes, police appealed for cooperation from members of the public.
“Those who share such information with police will receive due protection,” police assured.
A report by the Asia Foundation in late 2012 found that political and corporate elites financed gangs “to carry out a range of illegal activities that serve their political or business interests”.
Police statistics meanwhile reveal 95 incidents of assault reported in July alone, bringing the total number of assault cases to 697 this year. Approximately 1,500 cases of assault are reported annually in the Maldives, of which a majority occurs in Malé.
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