Tag: maldives news

All 79 suspects arrested from Anbaraa festival tested positive for drugs, police reveal

All 79 suspects taken into police custody from the island of Anbaraa in Vaavu atoll tested positive for drugs, police have revealed.

Briefing the press today, Chief Inspector Abdulla Satheeh explained that police received intelligence information suggesting that alcohol and drugs were being used and sold at the two-day music festival held on the uninhabited island.

Police raided the island with a court order at midnight on Friday night (April 18), he noted.

The Drug Enforcement Department, Specialist Operations, police intelligence department, and the forensic department conducted the operation, Satheeh said.

Upon searching the island as well as the 198 partygoers, Satheeh said police discovered different types of drugs and more than MVR90,000 (US$5,836) in cash.

In addition to beer cans, the drugs confiscated from the island included pills, LSD stickers, and hash oil joints as well as rubber packets, cellophane packets, and film canisters containing cannabis, Satheeh said.

The drugs, beer cans, and cash were displayed in a video presentation at the press briefing.

While all 198 persons on the island were held and searched, the chief inspector noted that the 79 individuals were arrested after drugs were found either in their possession or at the scene.

Police revealed earlier that the 79 suspects included one female minor, 19 women and 59 men, including one foreign male.

While the remaining 119 were released without charge, Satheeh revealed that none of them were tested for drug use.

Arrangements were not in place to conduct drug tests on the island, he added.

The 79 persons taken into custody were arrested either with drugs in their possession or because police suspected they were under the influence of drugs, Satheeh noted.

Contrary to media reports claiming that a number of people were naked, Satheeh said individuals of both genders were “wearing revealing clothing” when police raided the island.

Asked about the organisers of the festival and lease holder of the uninhabited island, Satheeh said he could not disclose further details as the initial stage of the investigation.

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Islamic minister completes first official visit to India

After concluding his official visit to India – the first by a Maldivian Islamic minister – Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has said that building a close relationship with the Indian Muslim community will be beneficial to the Maldives.

“I saw that the Indian Muslim community is a community of service. As per information I have received officially India has, after Indonesia, the second biggest Muslim population in the world. There are 140 million Muslims living there. So I think having a close relationship between the Indian Muslim community and Maldives will be a very good move.” He said.

Shaheem said that his trip had brought solutions were found for many concerns, particularly to “comments made by some people in the international community stating that there are Maldivians who support religious extremism”.

He said building relationships with countries with Muslim minorities will improve the image of the Maldives, and that neighboring countries will be relieved when the Islamic minister visits them and explains the policies of the ministry.

During the visit Shaheem met the Vice President of India Shri Mohamed Hamid Ansari, discussing ministry policies. Shaheem assured the vice president that the Maldives is a peace-loving nation and that there is no space for extremist ideologies within the Maldivian community.

During the trip, the Indian government assured that higher education scholarships would be made available for Maldivian scholars at Indian universities.

Islamic universities through which these scholarships will be provided include Delhi based Jamia Millia Islamia (National Islamic University), Osmania University in Hyderabad, and Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh.

Indian Imams who have by-hearted the whole Quran, will be visiting the Maldives to recite Quran at Taraweeh prayers during Ramadan, Saheem said.

Minister Shaheem also met the Union Minister of Minority Affairs Dr K. Rahman Khan – head of Central Waqf Council – along with leaders of the Indian Muslim community, discussing the management and development of Waqf properties, Zakat funds, and Hajj corporations.

Muslim leaders assured the minister that businessmen and members of India’s Muslim community will be interested building mosques as a service to the Maldives.

Islamic university

Shaheem said that both parties agreed on academic exchanges between the two countries, particularly in providing the assistance of Indian scholars’ with experience required to establish the Maldives’ Kulliyyathul Dhiraasathil Islamiyya (College of Islamic Studies) as an Islamic University.

“It is a government pledge included in the manifesto, so the government is working towards that goal now,”  said Shaheem – who is also the chair of the special committee on establishing the Islamic University formed by the cabinet’s Social Council.

He said the project would be implemented jointly by the Education Ministry, Islamic Ministry, President’s Office, and the Kulliyyaa.

“We have been talking about it [the establishment of the an] at all our trips. There are two ways in which we require assistance. One is technical assitance to change the Kulliyaa in to an Islamic University – things such maintaining the quality, number of faculties, development of the curriculum and strategic plan,” said Shaheem.

“The second form is financial assistance in improving the status the place.”

The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) will take lead in the development of the curriculum and other technical support for the establishment of the University.

According to Shaheem, official communications have already started with IIUM, with all the necessary assistance to be provided.

“One of the main targets is to make this university in Maldives an institution which provides Islamic education for the entire region as well,” Shaheem said.

In the acquisition of financial assistance, Qatar and Kuwait have given a positive response after the Vice President Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed’s requests during his recent visits, and the issue will be raised again during his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Shaheem revealed.

While a specific date has not been announced for the establishment of the university Jameel has said it will be established soon.

Speaking Kulliyyathul Dhiraasaathil Islamiyy’s graduation ceremony on Friday, Jameel said that the government believes that development and progress in the Maldives should come within Islamic principles and the Islamic code of conduct.

He said that in this regard the government has begun work to bring major reforms to the education system, under which arabic language and Islamic values will be introduced through the new curriculum next year.

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Police Commissioner to participate in INTERPA conference

Commissioner of Police Hussain Waheed has left to Malaysia to participate in the third conference of the International Association of Police Academies (INTERPA) – the association’s fourth council meeting, and sixth executive board meeting.

According to the official police website, the conference will be held from April 21 to 24 in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. The theme of the conference is ‘Development of Teaching Staff in Police Academies’.

INTERPA has a wide membership, including police academies from Europe, Africa, North America, South America, the Middle East and Asia.

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Two persons arrested in Dhaandhoo for possession of narcotics

Police have arrested two individuals from the island of Dhaandhoo in Gaafu Alif in two separate cases concerning the possession of narcotics.

According to the police website, the arrestees are two local men aged 41 years and 37 years.

The 41-year-old was arrested on Saturday afternoon. While the investigation is pending, police have stated that they found rubber packets containing what they suspect to be illegal drugs in the man’s trouser pockets.

The 37-year-old man was arrested on the evening of the same day. He was found to be in possession of two packets containing what is suspected to be illegal drugs.

Police further stated that they are conducting a series of operations in the island of Dhaandhoo to further uncover cases of drug abuse and possession.

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‘Halal certificates’ awarded to three companies

Under an initiative of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to categorise food products produced in the Maldives as ‘halal’, three companies have on Sunday been awarded the first ‘Halal certificates’.

After research into the manufacturing process, the Islamic Ministry today awarded five products of Felivaru Fisheries, 12 products of Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO), and three products of Horizon Fisheries with the certificate.

The certificates were awarded by Minister of Economic Development Mohamed Saeed at a ceremony held  in the Islamic Ministry on Sunday.

The new policy represents the government’s attempts to find alternative fish export markets, including the middle-eastern and the Malaysian market, after withdrawing its application for European Union (EU) duty-free status of imported fish from the country.

Last November, the EU declined to extend the duty-free status on Maldivian fish exports under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program – a non-reciprocal trade agreement extended to developing countries – as the government had not ratified all 27 required international conventions.

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President appoints Dr Azeema Adam as MMA governor

President Abdulla Yameen has on Sunday appointed Dr Azeema Adam to the post of Governor at central bank Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

Dr Azeema received parliamentary approval last week after being nominated in February.

Azeema was previously filling the post of assistant governor and chief economist, monetary policy and statistics at the monetary authority, having worked there from May 1991.

She holds a PhD in Economics from Australian University of Canberra and a Masters Degree in International Development and Finance from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

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Maldives Military Veterans hold first executive meeting

The Maldives Military Veterans (MALVETS) – registered on April 18 to mark the anniversary of Maldives National Defence Force – has held its first executive meeting on Saturday.

The meeting was chaired by MALVETS Commander Major General (Retired) Mohamed Zahir and took place at Bandos Island Resort.

According to the official MNDF website, members of MALVETS held discussions on how to lay a strong foundation for the association, how to increase membership, as well as planning ways to establish easier means of communication between members and a website for the association.

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Criminal Court extends detention period of all arrested from Anbaraa festival

The Criminal Court has extended the pretrial detention of the 78 people arrested from the island of Anbaraa to 10 days.

Yesterday police searched more than 200 persons and arrested 79, including one minor, during a music festival on Ambara island in Vaavu atoll.

Of the 79 persons arrested 19 were females, with local media reporting that all those arrested tested positive for illicit drugs.

When those arrested were summoned to the Criminal Court last night, a group of people gathered in the area attempted to create unrest with police arresting three persons near the court, local media reported.

Local media also reported that one expat was among the 79 persons arrested. Minivan News understands that it was a Malaysian national identified as Wen Que that was arrested from the island.

According to media reports, the minor that was arrested was summoned to the Juvenile Court and her detention period extended to five days house arrest.

Home Minister Umar Naseer in a tweet has said that law will be enforced without any exemptions, writing that “anybody can party but no drugs on the menu.’’

Newspaper Haveeru has reported that the son of Maldives National Defence Force Chief Major General Ahmed Shiyam was among those arrested. The son of prominent businessman ‘South’ Thaufeeq and the son of Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) MP-elect Brigadier General (retired) Ibrahim Mohamed were also reported to have been arrested at the festival.

Meanwhile, former President Mohamed Nasheed this morning gave an interview to MDP-aligned radio station Minivan 97, saying that the raid was politically motivated suggesting that Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb was responsible.

Nasheed alleged that Adeeb had purposefully put all the youth into the same place in order to arrest them and took them all.

He also said that he did not believe all the young people that went there went with the intention of abusing illicit drugs.

Nasheed alleged that President Abdulla Yameen and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom were trying to rule the country by forcibly controlling the youth – calling for people to come out and protect young people.

He recalled an incident that occurred in 1979 when the then-President Gayoom arrested a large group of youth before allegedly torturing them. He suggested that the youth did not open their mouths to talk about it until Gayoom’s 30 year administration was over.

Witness account

A person present at the festival told Minivan News that on Friday night at about 12am he started hearing loud explosions.

“I thought one of the speakers had a fault but then I kept hearing that sound from different sides so I went out to see what was going on,’’ he said.

“When I came out the whole place was full of smoke and I thought it was part of their plan to make the event more enjoyable.’’

He said he then saw the tip of a gun coming slowly towards him.

“I still thought it was a toy gun and it was part of their plan to surprise people but then I saw the face of a person wearing a mask and then I saw police the police uniform,’’ he said.

“The police officer came and pointed the gun at my forehead and told me to get down on my knees, I just automatically fell down on my knees with my hands on my head – it was like a computer game scene.’’

The source said that he then looked around and realised that there was a police raid on the island and that the loud sound he had heard came from the smoke grenades the police had thrown all over.

“The police were very violent, the male police officers ran after the males and the female officers chased down the females, they used batons and swimming fins to beat people,’’ he said. “Then we were all handcuffed behind our backs and made to lie on the ground for more than an hour and a half.’’

He said the police mostly arrested those who were in possession of illicit drugs.

“Lots and lots of illegal drugs were found inside the tents, mostly hash oil and ecstasy pills,’’ the source said. “Those who were not in possession of any illicit drugs were released after the search.’’

He also said that all the females that went to the party were arrested except for two. He denied the allegations that some of the girls were naked when police raided the island.

“No one was naked but they were all under dressed,’’ he added.

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MDP candidate for Feydhoo constituency alleges black magic led to election defeat

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate for Feydhoo constituency Mohamed Nihad – who lost the election to Progressive Party of Maldives candidate Ibrahim Didi – has today told the High Court that his opponent used black magic to win the election.

According to local media present at the High Court hearing held Thursday, the MDP candidate claimed that Didi buried coconuts that were suspected to be cursed by using black magic, in different areas of Feydhoo.

Nihad also alleged that the same type of cursed coconuts were buried inside his house and near to the polling station.

He also alleged that Didi went near the polling station during voting hours and campaigned there.

Nihad told the High Court that Ibrahim Didi had bribed people and campaigned after official hours, and that he had filed complaints with the anti-corruption and elections commissions without receiving a response.

Elections Commission lawyer Hussein Siraj told the court that first it should be determined whether the coconut was really cursed or not and to what extent the curse had affected the result of the election.

Ibrahim Didi’s lawyer also spoke in the court and denied all the charges, claiming that Nihad was attempting to destroy his good name.

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