Sniffer dogs locate drugs at Maafushi jail

The police drug enforcement department and the Maldives correctional services conducted a joint operation in Maafushi jail yesterday using sniffer dogs to locate drugs.

Tuesday’s 14-hour operation was the first time dogs were used to search a Maldivian prison.

Superintendent Ahmed Shifan, head of the drug enforcement department, told the press today that the dogs located 25 rubber packets containing hash oil and five packets containing heroin.

A large number of mobile phones, SIM cards and chargers was also confiscated from the cells, Shifan said.

He added that police are working with the correctional service to prevent the entry of drugs and phones to the high security prison. Prison guards have previously been caught smuggling drugs for inmates.

The correctional services had also confiscated 200 packets of illicit narcotics during a search operation in November last year.

Home minister Umar Naseer brought in 16 puppies from the Netherlands in March to tackle the Maldives’ entrenched drug abuse and trafficking problem.

The dog squad or ‘K9 unit’ reportedly cost the government US$40,000. Custom-made kennels have been established at the airport, and the government has brought in British and Dutch trainers to train police officers on working with the dogs.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Sniffer dog locates 300 grams of heroin in first raid

A sniffer dog has located 300 grams of heroin in the Maldives’ first drug raid involving dogs.

The police, with the dog’s help, managed to recover two packets of what they say was a major stash of drugs at a private residence in Malé on Saturday night, after suspects flushed an unknown quantity of illegal drugs down the toilet.

Superintendent of police Ahmed Shifan said the drug bust was “a major green light that sniffer dogs can help resolve the Maldives’ drug problem.”

Police estimate the street value of confiscated heroin at MVR600,000 (US$39,063). A 26-year-old from Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo was arrested from Carnation Lodge.

Dogs are illegal in the Maldives for religious reasons, but home minister Umar Naseer last month brought in 16 puppies from the Netherlands to tackle the Maldives’ entrenched drug abuse and trafficking problem.

Local media reported a woman at the scene fainted on seeing the dog, but police say they believe the woman had fainted after seeing the narcotics at her home.

“These are false reports, we believe she fainted after the drugs were discovered, not because she saw the dogs,” Shifan said.

He said the police will not use the dogs to incite fear among the public.

The dog squad reportedly cost the government US$40,000. Custom-made kennels have been established at the airport, and the government has brought in British and Dutch trainers to train police officers on working with the dogs.

Naseer has meanwhile tasked the language academy with naming the 16 puppies. The academy last month invented a new Dhivehi word for the dog squad, ‘faaregema.’

Police were only authorised to use sniffer dogs in operations on Thursday. Shifan said the dogs will also be used to detect counterfeit money.

Last year, the police confiscated 44 kilograms of drugs in 31 nation-wide operations.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Women urge drastic action from president on drugs

A women’s group campaigning against drug abuse has handed the government a petition urging President Abdulla Yameen to prioritise the Maldives’ drug crisis.

The Society for Women Against Drugs collected 359 signatures calling on the president to improve the quality of drug rehabilitation care, and to launch medical care for addicts suffering from withdrawal symptoms in police custody.

“Successive governments have attempted to address the problem of drugs, but they are not doing enough and we don’t see politicians prioritizing the issue,” said the group’s chairperson Fathimath Afiya after handing over the petition last week.

According to a 2012 UN report, there are 7,496 drug addicts in the Maldives. However, critics say the true figure is much higher.

Meanwhile, health advocacy groups have expressed concern over a high risk of HIV spreading among an unmonitored population of injecting drug users.

President Yameen in February acknowledged that changes were needed in the drug rehabilitation system, but the cabinet in March discussed mechanisms to decrease state expenditure on drug care centres.

Home Minister Umar Naseer last year pledged to prioritize drug trafficking and last month brought in a sniffer dog squad.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Police bust Maldivian drug network in Sri Lanka

Police have busted an international drug network operated by a group of Maldivians in Sri Lanka following a two-year long operation.

Police superintendent Ahmed Shifan said three Maldivians were arrested with 165 grams of heroin and a large amount of cash in a joint operation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Department (DED) and the Sri Lankan Narcotics Bureau.

Shifan, head of the DED, said the three were suspected of carrying out large-scale drug trafficking through several countries, including Pakistan, Thailand, China, and India.

The first suspect arrested in the case – a 25-year-old – had travelled to these countries with fake passports numerous times since 2012, Shifan said.

Shifan also said that a Maldivian woman was recently arrested in Sri Lanka with 100 grams of cannabis.

However, the woman has since been released because cannabis is considered a soft drug in Sri Lanka.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Police officer arrested in drug bust

A police officer was among nine people arrested in a drug bust on the island of Hinnavaru in Lhaviyani atoll on Tuesday (November 11).

Briefing the press yesterday, Chief Inspector Ahmed Shifan, head of the Drug Enforcement Department (DED), revealed that all the suspects in custody were Maldivian men above 18 years of age from Hinnavaru.

“A police officer is under arrest but I cannot provide further information at the time,” he said.

The Hinnavaru magistrate court has extended the remand detention of the suspects for eight days, he said.

Shifan said 16 bullet-sized rubber packets of “a substance suspected to be drugs,” 241 bullet-sized rubber packets of heroin, and 145 packets of hash oil were seized during an operation conducted by the DED in Hinnavaru.

The DED searched 13 homes in the island and questioned a number of people, he said, noting that the operation was still ongoing in Lhaviyani atoll.

Similar operations would take place in other atolls in the coming days, the chief inspector said.

The operation involved 36 police officers and was conducted with the assistance of the Special Operations (SO) department, the investigative support department, and operational support department.

A police officer was also arrested in a 24kg drug haul in March, which police said was “the largest amount of drugs seized in a police operation conducted in the Maldives so far.”

Police later revealed that the officer had used a local money transfer service to send money to an Iranian agent.

Local media reported in August that the officer was among three Maldivian suspects released from custody after the Prosecutor General’s Office decided there was insufficient evidence for prosecution.

Gangs and police

Speaking at a conference of police division and atoll commanders on October 22, Home Minister Umar Naseer said criminal gangs in the atolls were attempting to infiltrate the police by forging personal relationships with police officers stationed in their islands.

Gangs attempt to “penetrate” police stations in order to gather information to carry out criminal activities, he said.

Naseer said complaints have been received from various islands about offenders quickly learning of a crime being reported to the police.

Information was thus “leaking” from within the police, he added.

“So some people hesitate to share information with some police stations. This is very regrettable,” he said.

Commanders in the atolls should ensure that police officers do not fraternise with known criminals or suspected drug dealers, Naseer urged.

Naseer said he had received complaints from various islands about police officers spending time with suspected drug dealers when they were off-duty.

Commanders should be aware of who their subordinate officers “go to coffees or picnics with,” he advised, which should be controlled to ensure the “credibility of the police force on that island or atoll.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Is the government protecting the youth from drugs?

Last weekend’s raid of the Anbaraa island music festival was defended by police as being part of law enforcement efforts to “safeguard youth and the society from dangers of drugs”.

But how successful are the current methods in keeping the youth away from drugs?

Beginning with soft drugs in the seventies, and later with the introduction of heroin around 1993, the drugs issue became a national epidemic in the nineties with the number of drug-related offenses increasing rapidly since that time.

The National Drug Use Survey (NDUS) of 2011-2012, conducted by the UNODC, revealed that there were 7,496 drug users aged between 15 and 64 years in the Maldives. According to the survey, 72 percent of the drug using population was under the age of 24, and 48 percent of the drug users in the capital Malé were between 15 and 19 years.

A 2003 Rapid Situation Assessment by the Narcotics Control Board revealed that the age at which young people start using drugs ranged between 10-27 years (a mean age 16.8 years).

Those young people are often arrested and sentenced to long periods in prison, while more and more join them in becoming frequent users and addicts.

It has been suggested that Maldivian prison population could be reduced by up to two-thirds if the government would decriminalise the offence of drug usage and propose mandatory rehabilitation.

Rehabilitating rehab

The NDUS report said the Maldives’ response to the drug problem appeared to be skewed heavily towards the criminal justice system rather than health and social welfare systems.

Considering this, the report proposed turning this around by approaching the issue from three broad angles – supply reduction, demand reduction, and harm reduction.

One key achievement in this change was the Drug Act, introduced in 2011 with provisions for treating drug users instead of opting for incarceration. Under the Act, the National Drug Agency (NDA) has been mandated as the lead agency dealing with all issues related to drug prevention, harm reduction, and treatment.

A Drug Court was also formed under the new act as part of a policy shift away from taking a punitive approach against small-scale drug offenses.

Earlier this month, the NDA reported that 101 offenders have completed their drug rehabilitation programme. But how successful is this programme?

Mohamed Shuaib, the CEO of ‘Journey’ – a support NGO for recovering addicts – said the rehabilitation programme in the Maldives had failed completely.

“Three months later they start using again. While a lot of money is spent on these programmes, right now it is just a small prison. There is no good treatment programme there,” he said.

He highlighted various failures ranging from the programme’s structure and staffing capacity, to unrepaired damages at the buildings and the lack of capacity in the programme itself.

Mohamed Rashad – the 24-year-old found dead after a heroin overdose on April 1 – is a testament to this failure. He passed away within 24 hours of being released from the Himmafushi drug rehabilitation centre.

A full programme

Earlier this month, the Drug Court’s Judge Mahaz Ali Zahir said that the NDA had informed the court that one of its centres was full in April last year. Again this month the second centre in Maafushi was also reported to be full.

“People in prisons who have been sentenced to rehabilitation are also waiting for such an opportunity. If this stays this way the [expected] result of [establishing] the Drug Court will not be seen,” the judge has said.

Judge Mahaz called on authorities to speed up the process of sending cases to the court, stating that out of 1,616 cases only 19 were submitted within a month of the incident.

Fathimath Afiya, the Chairperson of the Society For Women Against Drugs (SWAD) said the rehabilitation programme currently only existed “just for name’s sake”.

“We visited the [rehabilitation center] place for an assessment just around the time the new government came to power. And it is true, the programme is there just for name’s sake,” she said.

“There is no stable programme. The place is full. There are so many issues. While the Drug Court is sending more and more people, there is no stable programme for them.”

Afiya said the government had started taking action regarding the issue now, and that SWAD was closely following it.

“SWAD is lobbying to work towards a long term strategic solution, based on a strategic action plan and prevention policy. The government is listening to our recommendations and bringing small changes already.”

She said the importance of following a systematic plan is to work realistically towards a solution instead of having every new government introducing something new with each new term.

Long term reform

Journey’s Shuaib also noted the importance of having a long term plan to addressed the issue.

“There have never been any research and evidence based prevention programmes in the Maldives. It is always an ad hoc approach. Our outreach teams have observed that there are a lot of new users now.”

Shuaib said prevention is of the utmost importance and, since children start using drugs, parental guidance and providing children with information will help them make the right choice.

“Even in the US their policy was using guns and force but it did not work. So now they are reforming their drug policy to focus on prevention. Prevention is more important. Young people who were using hash oil three or four years back are now using heroin,” Shuaib said.

Speaking to Minivan News, one recovering heroin addict said the programme ‘s failure could be connected to the Drug Act itself.

“Every one at the programme does not always want to deal with their issue. Many  just don’t care about it and are there only because they have been ordered to do so. This makes things harder for those of us who genuinely want to get better,” he said.

While Minivan News was unable to get a comment from NDA regarding the issue, all NGOs expressed hope that the programme can be saved, with the agency currently taking steps towards reform.

Supply, demand, and harm

In terms of supply reduction, drugs confiscated by the Maldives Customs Service while being imported to the Maldives in 2013 include 6.98 kg of heroin and 10.73 kg of hashish oil, while the numbers in 2012 were 4.12 kg of heroin along with 8.39 kg of hashish oil.

This is relatively small amount compared to what is being imported to the country, considering the huge demand. The 24 kg of heroin seized by police last month gives an idea of the true scale of the problem.

Last year police dealt with 38 cases of buying and selling of drugs and 130 cases of trafficking drugs, while there were 2,139 drug use cases and 833 possession cases. Even less is done with regards to major drug dealers.

With regards to large-scale drug dealers, previous attempts by former President Nasheed to apprehend some of the nation’s most prominent drug dealers failed to bear fruit. Among them, Adam Naseer was found innocent by the Criminal Court despite police finding over MVR6million (US$461,500) in cash and drugs just outside his home.

In  June 2011, police arrested another ‘top dealer’ Ibrahim ‘Shafa’ Shafaz, finding 896 grams of illegal drugs in his apartment.  This February he left the Maldives for ‘medical treatment’ and has appealed his eighteen year jail term to the High Court from abroad.

While NGOs seem hopeful about fixing the rehabilitation program, a complete change in policy and approach to the drug issue is needed to protect the youth from drugs.

These examples only provide further evidence – if it is needed – that a more efficient way must be devised, moving away from the criminal justice system approach, towards a method based more closely on supply, demand, and harm reduction.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Legendary performer Meynaa Hassaan bids farewell to music

The news came out yesterday – famous musician ‘Meyna’ Hassaan is going to end his musical career at 49-years-old. His final performance will be at Raalhugandu – the capital Malé City’s surf spot – tonight at 8:30pm.

The farewell show’s title ‘Hayyaru Kurumuge Kurin’ (‘Before being arrested’) refers to the fact that Hassaan has been summoned to the Criminal Court on a drug-related case and may soon end up in prison.

His potential incarceration is not the reason Hassaan is ending his musical career, however. His carefully considered decision has been made – in his own words – “to move away from heroin and to move closer to God”.

Tonight’s nostalgic show is going to be as fun and enjoyable as his performances from the nineties, Hassaan promised, with the catchy, hummable, sing-along hits from his earlier albums alongside brand new material.

The lineup – ‘Hassaan and Friends’  – will feature the famous traditional boduberu group ‘Habeys’ – just some of the fellow musicians who will play alongside Hassaan for free this evening. Indeed, the whole show is without any corporate sponsorship.

For Hassaan, the show is very personal and comes with with a personal message. As well as sharing good music, the main objective of the show is to transmit a message regarding heroin addiction – something the majority of Maldivians are directly or indirectly affected by.

“I want to warn the people of Maldives against heroin and drugs. Because I have struggled with it, I lost my family and everything, my whole life was ruined. I want to share my experience. My intention now is to do everything I can to help everyone, old and young, to get out of heroin [addiction],” Hassaan explained.

Musical beginnings

Meyna Hassaan (Hassaan Mohamed) is from Holhudhoo in Noonu Atoll, grandson of the famous Meyna Kaleyfaanu – founder of one of the first schools in the country.

Hassaan’s unique style of music and poetry can be described as melodic, Maldivian, and relatable. The combination of traditional beats and rhythm accompanied by unique Dhivehi lyrics makes him the most ‘Maldivian’ in the modern local music scene. It is for this reason he has received such huge support across generations. His music reflects his poetry, and his poetry reflects the Maldivian traditions, environment, lifestyle, and ethos.

The roots of Hassaan’s music and poetry lie in his childhood. His father was well versed in the Dhivehi language, while his grandmother was a poet who used to sing lullabies and educational and religious songs. Hassaan was also influenced by the Quranic literary form and the local form of melodious recitations.

His brother’s ‘music band’ with home-made instruments also influenced him greatly, along with a musician who was banished to the island when he was young. By the time he was twelve, Hassaan had started writing his own poetry as well as singing and dancing at ‘Hithaanee’ circumcision functions.

“Poetry usually comes to me when I am by myself, and it usually comes in rhymes and in metric forms. I dont have to sit down and fit them, it just comes naturally like that. Then as soon as I write them down and learn it by heart it becomes a song in my head. There it is…and when I go sing it to a musician, they will play some chords and it would all fit perfectly and become a real song.”

In the nineties Saikura Ibrahim Naeem, a poet himself, labelled Hassaan ‘Eesa Dhari’ – a poet from folklore, known for spontaneously making ‘raivaru’ form of poetry after being touched by the raivaru monster’s tongue.

Hassaan came to Malé to study at around 15-years-0ld and soon found himself missing the sound of his brother’s music practice so much that he found it hard to even sleep. Hassaan promptly started his own band with his own friends.

At just 16-years-old he took a job at his brother’s tourist resort, studying in Malé only in the off-season. This is where his musical career and the mixing of traditional and modern musical styles would begin.

Rannaalhi resort would also be the birthplace of the legendary group ‘Zero Degree Atoll’ (ZDA). The band’s member ‘Mohoj’ was a manager at the resort who would meet Nashid and perform at the resort on the weekends. Hassaan would join them, knowing how to please the crowd by mixing Italian and other languages with his poetry.

Rise to fame

Around 1988, Hassaan went with the ZDA group on a trip across the islands to collect the natural and cultural sounds of the Maldives – to be included in their ‘Dhoni’ album. On the trip they gave a show in Naifaru, in Lhaviyani atoll, which would be Hassaan’s first real public performance. The support he got was noted by Nashid and the other musicians who subsequently asked Hassaan to perform with them in Malé.

It was through his performance at the ‘Dhivehi Fannaanun Ge Musikee Eedh’  – an annual music festival for local artists – that the whole country would come to discover Hassaan’s music.

In 1992 he released his first two albums ‘Maldives Fantasy’ and ‘Maldives Ecstasy’.

“After that it seemed impossible to give a show in Malé without my participation. The fame had an impact on my personal life as well. By that time I had already started thinking about leaving the profession,” Hassaan recalled.

His performances were particularly praised by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and he soon received a government scholarship to study music in India.

“I was doing really good there, but after an year I lost interest. If I really had a full interest in music, I would have produced more songs though my career. After the first few years [of my career] I started losing interest in it. I loved God too much to focus on these things. I keep singing because of other people’s influence. Wherever I am people see me as a singer.”

This would Hassaan’s first turn towards religion, and his first attempt to quit music. He would grow a beard, wear more Arabic clothing, and spend most of his time in the mosque. He was trying to “live a clean life”, as he puts it.

Fall and return

“Whatever I do, I have to do it right. I can’t follow Islam in parts, I have to follow it completely. But the government at the time did not like that, so I was arrested while I was at the mosque – my beard was shaved with chilli sauce and I spent around forty days in Gaamaadhoo Prison. I thought there was no escape from this whether I do good or bad. I realised there were no democratic or Islamic values here.”

He was asked to write a letter to President Gayoom justifying and detailing his lifestyle change, after which the president himself met Hassaan and offered his unsolicited religious advice. Gayoom explained to him that another man named Hassaan (a companion of the prophet) had used his skills in poetry to prevent a war during the prophet Muhammad’s time.

Hassaan was not convinced that his songs could in any way be compared to this other Hassaan’s poetry. But he felt he had no choice but to return to music as requested by the president.

Hassaan performed at some major shows after the return, such as the O’Neil Deep Blue Open surf event in 2003, the One World Beat music festival to help children with HIV/AIDS in 2004, and the Dhidhooo Eid Festival in 2005.

After another break he returned to music once again in 2007, now describing himself as a moderate Muslim. During this period he released the ‘Oivaru’ album.

Hassaan subsequently disappeared once again from the music scene, returning around 2010. In 2011 he was seen with Maldivian Democratic Party – something he states was based on principles rather than on money – with his political performances being seen as recently as March’s parliamentary elections.

Heroin

Hassaan, like thousands of others around the country, went through a great deal of suffering from heroin addiction for a large part of his life.

“It was around 1996 I think, back then people didn’t have a clue about what heroin really was. A friend would give you some and you would use it, a few days later you realise you absolutely have to use again and then there is no escape from it. At the time people used it to get the cannabis feel, which is not such a harmful drug compared to heroin. But we should not use it either. Human beings do not need any of these drugs. A pure and clean mind is what is best for us, now I am like that.”

Within a year of being released from prison by President Gayoom, Hassaan relapsed. He stayed in Holhudhoo to escape his addiction for a while, but eventually had to return to Malé for work.

“After feeling better I would take some money from my wife before returning to Malé, I would promise her never to use again. But by the time I reache Thulhaagiri I am already thinking about certain houses in Malé. I am thinking about it before I even reach Malé. This is the level of power heroin can have over a person. To come over this strong power, we need a stronger power. And for me that is God.”

For Hassaan, the biggest encouragement to stay away from drugs came when it cost him his marriage and his relationship with his children. Without a place to live, Hassaan realised he had to be clean for good.

Religion

Escaping heroin by turning to God is the main reason Hassaan wants to quit music, as he believes music to be drawing him closer to heroin while turning to God keeps him away from it.

“We have to question ourselves about our purpose in life, we have to be courageous and fight. God has given me courage, and I have fallen in love with God. I love God more than anything else. Merely believing in God is not enough or believing in Islam is not enough. Focusing on God is the only way.”

His turning toward religion came with certain elements of the literalist Salafi form of Islam. Hassaan no longer believes in celebrating birthdays and he no longer believes music is good for people.

“I won’t say it is forbidden in Islam. I can’t tell other people what to do, but I know it has a negative impact on my behavior. It is hard to sleep at night when I get into music, so it is best to stay away from it. As soon as I returned to music I went back to heroin. Why did he [Gayoom] have to bring me back to music?”

Hassaan doesn’t believe that using drugs makes musicians any better in performing or composing, but does feel that turning to God makes him lose interest in music.

However, his body and movements during performances suggests he still loves music. Even during practice sessions last week he still seemed intoxicated with the music, dancing as if in a trance.

Hassaan admits that he still enjoys himself and to this day feels ecstatic whenever he is performing, though he maintains that he does not want to do it anymore.

He is completely abandoning music and poetry, with the exception of patriotic and religious songs without music. When asked if there is any way that he could make music and God coexist in his life, he replied:

“Please let this performance at Raalhugandu be my last. I don’t think I have many days to live.”

Hassaan requests everyone who loves him and his music to join him tonight and stand against heroin.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Police seize 24kg of heroin in largest drug haul to date

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) has seized 24kg of heroin with a street value of MVR36 million (US$2.2 million) in the largest drug haul from a police operation in the country’s history.

At a press briefing today, Superintendent Mohamed Rasheed, head of the Drug Enforcement Department (DED), revealed that the drugs were seized in a special operation conducted from March 4 to 10.

“I note at this opportunity that the 24kg of drugs was the largest amount of drugs seized in a police operation conducted in the Maldives so far,” Rasheed said.

The drugs were allegedly transported in a vessel named ‘Hormooz’ registered in Iran, Rasheed said, noting that the boat had visited the Maldives in the past ostensibly to purchase fish.

The boat had been put under police surveillance based on intelligence information suggesting that it was being used to smuggle drugs, he said, adding that a crew member had previously been arrested with drugs in his possession.

Four Maldivians, three Bangladeshis and 11 Pakistanis were taken into custody on March 10, Rasheed revealed, declining to disclose their identities at the current stage of the investigation.

The 11 Pakistani nationals were the crew and captain of the Iranian boat, he added.

The four Maldivians and three Bangladeshis met the boat 30 nautical miles off the coast of Alif Alif Mathiveri in a dhoni (traditional boat) to collect the drugs, he explained.

The drugs were then concealed under fibre boards in a dinghy, Rasheed continued.

Two of the suspects were seized by police after arriving on the dinghy in Hulhumale while their dhoni waited in the harbour.

The Iranian vessel was meanwhile captured at sea with coastguard assistance between Alif Alif and Baa atolls, Rasheed said.

Asked by reporters whether a police sergeant and a Maldivian man – Abdulla Shaffath – arrested in connection with the Artur brothers’ case last year were among the 18 suspects, Rasheed said he could not disclose details at present as it could hamper the investigation.

Rasheed however confirmed that a police officer had been arrested in connection with the drug haul while two of the Maldivian suspects had prior records for drug-related offences.

The Criminal Court has extended the pre-trial detention period  of the 18 suspects by 10 days, he said.

While the street value of the drugs was estimated to be MVR36 million (US$2.2 million), Superintendent Rasheed noted that the drugs would likely be laced with “other powders” to increase its volume “two or threefold” before being sold.

The additional volume could potentially raise its street value to almost MVR100 million (US$6.5 million), he said.

Concluding the press briefing, Rasheed appealed to local fishermen to report sightings of foreign vessels unloading suspicious cargo at sea to the police or the coasstguard.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Police raid Masodige, arrest 18 in drug bust

Sixteen men and two women were arrested yesterday in a drug bust with over MVR100,00 (US$6,485) in cash and 31 rubber packets containing illicit narcotics.

Police raided Galolhu Masodige with a search warrant around 9:00am based on intelligence information suggesting that drugs were being sold from the house. The special operation was conducted jointly by the drug enforcement department (DED) and police intelligence.

According to the DED officer in charge of the operation, equipment used to pack drugs was also confiscated from Masodige.

Of the 18 suspects taken into custody, police said a 22-year-old man and 50-year-old woman were actively involved in drug trafficking.

The male suspect had a criminal record for drug trafficking and gang violence, police revealed.

The other 16 suspects – aged between 22 and 58 – were believed to have been in the house to purchase drugs at the time of the raid.

A 26-year-old woman among the suspects had been convicted on multiple charges of theft in 2010 and 2011, police said.

Police claimed the 16 suspects were under the influence of drugs at the time of their arrest and that all 16 had criminal records for drug-related offences.

The Criminal Court meanwhile granted a seven-day extension of detention for all 18 suspects when they were brought before a judge at 7:00pm last night. The case is currently under investigation by the DED.

On January 20, police arrested eight Maldivians with illegal narcotics and more than MVR140,000 (US$9,000) and US$11,000 in cash from a residence in Malé.

In an interview with Minivan News in January, Home Minister Umar Naseer said that the main target of his ministry for the next five years would be curbing drug-related crimes.

Naseer said that he intended to give a high priority to enhancing the customs services in order to stop illegal drugs and other contraband from being smuggled in to the country. He also said that the police intelligence department was being expanded.

“Leaving aside abusers and peddlers, the focus of this front will be on major wholesale drug dealers. We will investigate how drugs are brought into the country, find the contacts abroad, find ways to locate and take action against those involved even if they are abroad,” he said.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)