A man was attacked and stabbed with a sharp object in the early hours of this morning.
According to police the man was attacked by a gang of six. He is currently receiving treatment in Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital.
The incident occurred around 2.45am near Maafanu Nalahiyya.
Police have arrested a boy under 18 years of age, who was connected to the incident.
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(0)Police have arrested two men suspected of being among the most prolific drug dealers in the Gaaf Dhaal and Faumulaku regions.
Both men were in possession of narcotics when the arrests were made. Police said the arrests followed an operation conducted by a team from Male’ to track and apprehend major players in the drug industry.
The Gaaf Dhaal dealer was arrested on 1 January on Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo. The Faumulaku man was arrested on 4 January.
Both are currently under police custody while the case is being investigated.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have apprehended an escaped convict from Maafushi jail, who escaped midway through last year.
Abdulla Ali Maniku from Bahaaruge Haa Alif Molhadhoo had been on the run since 17 June 2009.
The 37 year-old was originally arrested and charged for his part in the clashes between religious extremists and security forces on Alif Alif Himandhoo on 7 October 2007.
Police said Maniku also escaped from the jail early last year, when he was caught in Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo. While being transported back to Male’ he again gave the authorities the slip by jumping into the ocean near the island of Vaavu Felidhoo.
He was recaptured on 4 January on Kaafu Thilafushi, a heavily industrialised island seven kilometres west of Male’ known colloquially as ‘Garbage Island’.
In 2007, the government cracked down on religious extremism after a home-made bomb exploded in front of Sultan Park in Male’ on 1 October. The attack injured 12 tourists.
After the attack, police arrested ten suspects. A week later, more than 100 security personal searched the island of Himandhoo for people suspected to be linked with the attack.
The police and many of Himandhoo’s residents clashed violently, leaving many injured on both sides. More than 50 people were arrested and taken to Male’ for questioning.
Ali Maniku is currently being held by the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS).
(0)Dislikes(0)The last person to see 30 year-old Mariyam Sheereen alive on Thursday night was an islander of Laamu Mundhoo who rents an apartment in the same house, one of Sheereen’s family members has claimed.
Sheereen was found dead on Sunday night under a pile of sand bags at a construction site in Male’.
Speaking to Minivan News on the condition of anonymity, the family member said Sheereen came to visit her mother at around 8pm on Thursday night.
“She said her SIM [card] wasn’t working, so I gave her a new one and asked her to return it on Friday,” said the relative. “Her mother told me she called her boyfriend before going out and argued with him.”
Sheereen left at around 9pm and that, the relative said, was the last time her family saw her.
Originally from Laamu Mundhoo, Sheereen moved to Laamu Gan with her mother and children, after the island was devastated in the tsunami.
Before her death, she had been living in a rented house in Male’ with one of her children.
The relative said she was seen with her boyfriend later that night by a family friend, while a friend of her mother’s saw the two of them in her rented room on New Year’s Eve.
Police said yesterday that Sheereen’s body was found by a Bangladeshi labourer on Sunday at Maafanu Angaagiri, under a pile of sandbags. The family was called to identify Sheereen two days after they filed a missing person’s report.
Arrest
Police further revealed that a man had been taken into custody in connection with the suspected murder.
The relative said the Mundhoo man and Sheereen’s landlord knocked on her door on Friday morning as her slippers were outside, but there was no answer.
On Friday afternoon, her mother called her boyfriend and asked the landlord to open her apartment.
They found her handbag and the clothes she was wearing on Thursday night, and reported her as missing to the police.
According to the relative, police have since arrested Sheereen’s boyfriend, a man from Laamu atoll Kalhaidhoo.
The relationship was marred by a history of abuse, the relative continued, and Sheereen was once hospitalised in Laamu Gan regional hospital after he had severely beaten her.
Police would not confirm the identity of the man arrested.
Asked if the case was being treated as a murder investigation, Sergeant Ahmed Shiyam from the Maldives Police Service said “we cannot give any details yet of the case, but all we can say is that [the suspect] has been brought in because we suspect him of being linked.”
Reaction
Mohamed Zuhair, the president’s press secretary, condemned the case as “horrific”.
“The president is very concerned about this alleged murder, and calls on the members of the public to assist the police in anyway they can,” Zuhair said.
The president’s office has been in close contact with the police commissioner, he added: “We have received information that the body was discovered 72 hours after death.”
(0)Dislikes(0)A body of a 30-year-old woman was discovered at a construction site in Male’ last night.
The body was discovered yesterday evening around 6.30pm, at Maafanu Angaagirige, hidden under a pile of sand bags.
Sergeant Ahmed Shiyam said a man suspected of involvement in the case has been taken in for questioning.
Police could not reveal any details of the man or his connection to the deceased.
According to police, the woman was Mariyam Sheereen of Laamu Gan Thudi ward.
“She has been reported as a missing person since the the 31st of December,” he said.
Shiyam said police had not determined the cause of death yet and the body was still at the morgue for an autopsy.
At a press conference today, Inspector Hamdhoon Rasheed, head of the organised and serious crimes unit, said the body was identified by the forensic department using fingerprints.
Police revealed last night that the decomposing body was found by a construction worker under a pile of garbage and sand bags.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Noonu Manadhoo police have visited all the houses on Noonu Kendhikulhudhoo to increase awareness of how to reduce crime.
During the trip the police asked people what sort of crime was happening on the island. The police also gave people information on how to contact the police, how cases were investigated and how the police in Noonu Atoll operated.
(0)Dislikes(0)Prominent businessman Ahmed Ibrahim Didi, known as ‘Campus’ Didi, was stabbed and robbed of almost US$300,000 in cash by unknown assailants last night.
Police said the incident occurred late last night around 12.30 pm on Fareedhee Magu, in front of the Novelty Bookshop.
A Bangladeshi man accompanying Didi suffered a gash to his arm, while Didi was badly injured and was flown to India for medical treatment. Eye witnesses told the newspaper Haveeru that the pavement outside the shop resembled “a red river of blood.”
Sergeant Shiyam from Maldives Police Service confirmed the amount of money stolen was “a lot”, while Haveeru reported the attackers escaped with almost US$200,000 and RF$1 million in cash.
Speaking to Haveeru on behalf of the family, Mohamed Ibrahim Didi, younger brother of Campus Didi, said that his brother’s condition was very serious and that all details regarding the stabbing and robbery would be made available through the police.
Shiyam refused to speculate whether the attack was random or Didi was specifically targeted, as the incident was under investigation.
The attack had similarities to the recent spate of gang muggings of store owners, he said.
A man was robbed of over $US30,000 by a gang who attacked him at Gadiburu roundabout in late November, while the previous month four men were arrested after attacking two men with iron rods and stealing Rf762,700 (US$60,000).
“Some businesses carry around a very big amount of money [after they close],” he said. “We’re trying to give the message that business and local residents should be careful about carrying such large amounts money.”
(0)Dislikes(0)A man in Noonu Atoll has been arrested in possession of a large amount of drugs.
Police reported that Mohamed Hassan, 19, from Noonu Maalhendhoo Farivaage, was arrested with 72 packets of suspected narcotics. Police also found Rf2110 and two bank trasfer slips.
Hassan was apprehended on December 27 in a special operation conducted by Noonu Atoll police, conducted to identify suspected narcotics distributors and users.
Police said Hassan also tested positive for narcotics after a drug test at Noonu Manadhoo police station.
(0)Dislikes(0)A man suffered slash wounds after being attacked with a knife last night in Gaafu Dhaalu Thinadhoo.
According to TVM, Mohamed Jinaah Ali of Thinadhoo was attacked around 6.25pm. He suffered a 6 by 2 inch gash on his left arm.
Thinadhoo police alleged Jinaah was attacked by 20 year-old Ismail Ahmed, and noted that he had a police record.
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