Five people arrested for assault in Gan island, Laamu atoll

Five people have been arrested for attacking two people with sharp objects at 7.55 p.m. last night at Thundee ward in Gan island, Laamu atoll.

The victims were 21 years and 20 years old, and both suffered serious injuries to the face and head. They were taken to Gan Regional Hospital by the police.

The young men were coming out of the mosque after prayers when a group of people on seven motorcycles attacked them, say the police, who are searching for others believed to have been involved in the assault.

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30% Cut to Import Duties at Southern and Northern ports in Maldives

Import duties levied at the Northern and Southern Regional Ports of the Maldives are to be cut by 30% from 1 July 2010.

President Nasheed approved the 30% cut after recommendations by the Cabinet.

Cabinet made the recommendations mainly to lessen pressure on the Malé commercial port and to increase economic activity at regional ports.

The Cabinet also declared Kalhaidhoo island, Haddhunmathi (Laamu) atoll as an uninhabited island. Kalhaidhoo was judged unsafe, following the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. Most Kalhaidhoo people have been relocated to Gan on the same atoll, and currently only 27 people remain in Kalhaidhoo. The French Red Cross has provided housing for Kalhaidhoo people at Gan.

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Police arrest man with illegal drugs

A man was apprehended by police yesterday afternoon for being allegedly involved in selling and using illegal drugs.

The man was caught by Seenu, Gan police with seven packets of illegal drugs while he was waiting near Maradhoo Harbour waiting for his motorcycle. Police were searching for two people reported to have gone to Maradhoo to sell drugs.

Police found Rf12,945 in cash in the man’s pocket as well as the packets of drugs.

Police in Gan, along with the Drug Enforcement Department of Maldives Police Service are investigating the case.

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Arrests in Laamu Gan after gang attacks on police

Police have arrested 22 people including four children under the age of 18 in Laamu Gan, after they were attacked during a wave of gang violence.

Police said the attacks occurred on Saturday morning at 4:00am, after the gang, believed to be from Mathimaradhu, “appeared suddenly from a forest.”

Police alleged gang members broke the glass windows of a shop in the industrial area of Mathimaradhu, burnt down a hut in Mulurimagu [district] and broke the windows of two houses. When they tried to stop the gang members, police claim they they were attacked and a police vehicle damaged.

Two policemen were seriously injured in the attack, including one suffered a broken arm after he was hit by a metal tube and another who was struck in the arm by a piece of wood with nails in it.

Police have recovered some of the weapons used in the attack from a house in Mathimaradhu, including swords, knives, metal pipes and blocks.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the injured two police officers have been brought to Male’ and admitted in Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

He said the police were investigating the case but refused to give more information.

Island Chief of Gan office Abdul Rahman said that the attack on Saturday night was a gang war between the two districts Mathimaradhu and Mukuri Magu that had been going on for a long time, “for at least three months.”

”Several times many of them have been injured,” Rahman said, ”but this is the first time they attacked the police and damaged property.”

He said most of the gang members were under the age of eighteen.

”We do not know why they have been fighting,” he said. ”We had not received any reports on these fights.”

He said there was a distance of 30 minutes between the two districts on foot.

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Petrol bombs and weapons found in Gan

Members of Gan Police Station and Fonadhoo Police Station found petrol bombs and weapons in the Mukurimagu Ward of Laamu Gan during a special operation, reports Miadhu.

The police received reports of the weapons at 3:15am and found them near the Aquveni area of Mukurimagu Ward.

The weapons included petrol bombs, knives, steel pipes and wooden planks. Police said these items would most likely have been used as weapons for assault.

No suspects have yet been arrested or interrogated. Gan Police Station is investigating the matter further.

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