police – Page 45 – Minivan News

BML urges customers to keep PINs secret

The Bank of Maldives (BML) has urged its customers to keep their personal identification numbers to themselves after thieves withdrew large sums from multiple ATMs in the capital Male’.

”It is very common in the Maldives to share the pin number of their cards, for example when paying a bill at a restaurant the customer might handover the card and pin number,” a BML spokesman told Minivan News.

‘We appeal all of our customers to stop sharing their pin number with anyone.”

Police have started searching for a group of expats who are alleged to have taken money from many different BML accounts without the knowledge of the owners.

The police uploaded video footage of the two expats while they were in the act of withdrawing money from one of the BML ATM machines.

Police said that they used different machines at different locations in Male’ to withdraw, stealing large amounts of money on 17 and 18 October.

Police appealed the public to share any information regarding the two expats and asked anyone with information to contact the police hotline (3322111) or the police economic crime department (9790048). If on an island, police asked individuals to inform the island council or island police station.

Protection was assured to anyone able to provide information on the case.

A spokesman from BML today told Minivan News that these type of cases occur most of the time because customers share their pin number with people.

He noted that a lot of times women will share their PIN number with close friends and have them withdraw money or use the card, and that most of the time customers have neither mobile alerts nor use internet banking to track their transactions.

The spokesperson stated that the details of the case could not be revealed while police are investigating the case, but did note that the bank would reimburse account holders if it was found to be at fault for any lost money.

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Police implements 100 day road-map to strengthen service

Police have established a 100 day road-map and have started implementing it in order to strengthen the work of police and to gain the trust of the people.

The road-map is based on four main strategies which seek to increase and enhance operational activities, conduct activities to curb crime, enhance and hasten investigations, and improve the police institution.

Police stated that when the road-map’s aims are achieved, they will be able to provide a safe environment for citizens, to gain the trust of the people and also to provide services to the people more closely. They also noted that it will make police officers more able to work using the available tools and established infrastructure.

80 percent of the investigations filed with police are intended to be completed and sent to the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office as part of enhancing and hastening investigations.

Police have also decided to conclude investigations into crimes other than those of a serious or organised nature in 30 days.

In addition to this, police have said they will share their data link with the Drug Court, the Criminal Court and the PG’s Office.

To achieve the second strategy – increasing and enhancing operational activities – police will follow proactive policing to determine criminals before they commit the crime and conduct intelligence-led special operations.

During the 100 days the police will increase the amount of CCTV cameras in Male’ to 150 and install cameras in Addu City at five different locations.

To accomplish the strategy to curb crime, police will conduct campaigns to raise awareness and to protect victims of child abuse, and will print out leaflets to make people aware of crimes. It will also launch a handbook about the work of the force’s forensic department.

Police said they will also conduct programs to train boat captains, to open job opportunities for youths, and to establish a crime prevention committee.

The road-map also includes sending officers abroad to learn to research ballistic evidence and introducing new ways to investigate complaints about police officers.

Furthermore, building 10 more cells in Dhoonidhoo Police Custodial centre where persons arrested for investigation are detained and building a detention facility for minors were included in the 100 day road-map.

Police have also decided to conclude testing of suspicious drugs within three days and to conduct three special operations to curb the illegal businesses of drug and alcohol.

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Police warns of people fraudulently collecting funds for dollars exchange

The police have urged caution after reports that groups have been collecting Maldivian rufiyaa from people, promising to exchange it before fleeing with the money.

In a statement the police revealed that last lots of such cases filed in recent days.

Police said that common targets are people walking alone on the streets who are then approached regarding exchangin ruffiyaa for dollars.

Police also said that in some cases these people arrive on motorbikes and take their victims on the bike to silent areas of Malé.

Another tactic used has been to attempt to gain the trust of their victim by giving them a mobile number which, when checked by police often turn out to be sim cards taken in the name of expats.

Investigations in to this type of cases show the offenders to be well presented – most of the time tucks their shirt under their pants and a pen in their pocket – giving the appearance of someone who normally does money exchange, the police said.

The police appealed people not to trust unknown individuals when dealing with money and also to identify people using an official document.

An online businessman who spoke to Minivan News on condition of anonymity said that people do not go to the Bank of Maldives to get dollars because it is a difficult procedure.

“Each bank account registered at BML gets USD100 per day,’’ he said. ‘’But the thing is, to get that US$100 you have to join the queue at midnight and wait till the bank opens next morning.’’

He said that is the reason why people resort to easy methods such as buying dollars on the black market.

A BML media official told Minivan News that the bank has been giving out dollars to the customers as much as possible.

“If the person has a bank account and dollars in it we will release the dollars and there will be no limit,’’ he said. ‘’It also depends on which branch of BML the person is going to.’’

President Abdulla Yameen in his inauguration speech has warned the Maldivian economy is in “a deep pit” and has pledged to reduce state expenditure.

Meanwhile, the MMA has printed over MVR 1 billion (US$ 64,516,129) in the past year alone, MMA statistics show.

Governor of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Dr Fazeel Najeeb in August warned that “excessive” government expenditure was directly responsible for the pressure on the rufiyaa.

Speaking during a function to celebrate the third anniversary of the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA), Dr Najeeb said: “The value of rufiyaa is dropping because government accounts do not have the money, because it is a necessity to print large quantities of money.”

Najeeb said that a long-term economic stability plan would be needed in the country as part of attempts to increase foreign investment, reduce inflation, and curb printing of the Maldivian rufiyaa in order to calm an increase in prices.

“The plan shall include new foreign investments, aim to reduce inflation, decrease the printing of money and cease it altogether. This will decrease the pressure on the rufiyaa”.

The state budget for 2014 remains stalled in the People’s Majlis with Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad as yet failing to submit revisions.

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HRCM launches investigation into allegations of police brutality against minors

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has begun investigating a case of alleged brutality and torture by police during the arrest of two minors.

“While I can confirm that such an investigation has been launched, we cannot reveal much details yet as the investigation is just in its beginning stages,” HRCM Member Jeehan Mahmoodh told Minivan News today.

Police have responded by saying that they are not aware of the case to which the HRCM is referring.

Jeehan stated that the commission had received the related complaint in the early hours of Thursday, December 5. According to her, the commission has sent an investigation team to meet with the victims within 24 hours of their arrest.

“We have observed that there are violations of some extent and are conducting investigations to identify the exact nature and level of the violations. Both the minors are male, and are of 15 and 16 years of age,” she said.

Jeehan further confirmed that both minors remain in custody, following an extension of their sentences.

“No idea who the HRCM is referring to”: Police

Police Media Official responded that they do not know which case or which detainees the HRCM is referring to, stating that they had not received any inquiries about the matter from the commission to date.

“I have no idea who the HRCM is referring to in these allegations, or which case they are speaking of. We have not received any complaints of ill-treatment or torture from any detained persons. Hearing about this issue, I have called up a number of authorities last night, and yet no one has been able to confirm which case is being referred to here,” the official stated.

“While the HRCM says they have attended the case within 24 hours of the arrest being made, this is still not enough information for us to identify the case in question. Within those 24 hours, we have brought multiple minors under arrest, some of these are even from distant atolls,” the media official explained.

“The HRCM is permitted to visit any detainees at any time, and I suppose that is what they are doing, and it is they who will probably release reports on the matter. So far, the commission has neither contacted us about the issue, asked for clarifications, nor made any inquiries,” he said.

Police Integrity Commission’s Secretary General Fathimath Sareera was not responding to calls at the time of press.

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Police raids beauty salon, arresting three women and five men

Police last night raided ‘Herbal Beauty Salon’ in Male’, arresting three Thai women and five Maldivian men for allegedly conducting sexual activities.

A joint special operation with the police’s intelligence department and serious and organized crime department was conducted after police received reports of the offences.

According to the police, when offices raided the premises of the beauty salon some individuals inside the rooms were naked.

A large amount of Maldivian rufiyaa and tools used for sexual activities were found inside the place, the police said.

In August this year, the Criminal Court sentenced the owner of Sondo Born Beauty Care Salon – 64 year-old Abdul Latheef Ali of Henveiru Philadelphi in Male’ – to four years in prison after finding him guilty of running a brothel and forcing three Thai women into prostitution.

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40 Somali castaways sent back home after four years

Police have said that 40 Somali castaways that were found in the Maldivian EEZ on different occasions since December 2009 have been sent back to their country.

The police said that all these people were accommodated in Dhoonidhoo Police Custodial remand centre under police charge during their time in the Maldives.

Police said that the Somalis were successfully sent back after cooperation between the government and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

A joint operation was conducted with police Serious and Organized Crime Department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Aviation Security to send them back, police said.

According to police, the Somalis were sent in a chartered flight and were accompanied with security officers.

The police said that the 40 Somalis included seven castaways rescued on December 2009, another five castaways rescued in the same month.

In 2010, authorities rescued seven Somali nationals on May 26, six were rescued on June 5, two on July 2, seven on November 28. Three more were rescued on 30 November 2010 and another three castaways rescued on December 2011.

In March 2012, a then-senior government official told Minivan News that the castaways under the custody of Maldivian authorities had refused to return home despite arrangements that were made for their safe repatriation.

According to the government official, who spoke to Minivan News on condition of total anonymity, the government had devoted “immeasurable amount of time and effort” over the past three years to safely repatriate several Somali nationals who have been discovered in Maldivian waters in dinghies lost at sea.

A delegation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) delegation arrived in the Maldives in 2012 to confirm the Somali’s preferences as no refugee can be repatriated without consent under the international conventions.

The Maldives cannot resort to the option of forced repatriation as Somalia is recognised as an unsafe state.

Maldives has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol citing “financial and technical capacity constraints” but the convention prohibits all states, regardless of whether they have acceded it, from returning a “refugee to a territory where his or her life or freedom is threatened”.

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Supreme Court Judge’s sex-tape probe stalled as Criminal Court fails to provide warrants

The police have been unable to proceed with the investigation into the alleged sex-tape scandal of the Supreme Court Judge Ali Hameed, after the Criminal Court failed to respond to police requests for warrants, reports local newspaper Haveeru.

An official from the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) – which is constitutionally mandated to oversee the judiciary – was quoted in the paper as stating that it had received a letter from the police noting that the Criminal Court’s failure to respond to requests for two warrants – made three months ago – had forced them to halt the investigation.

According to the unnamed official, the warrants sought by the police included authorisation for the police to take a facial photograph of Judge Hameed for comparative analysis with the videos relating to him, and a second warrant requesting the court’s permission to search his residence.

In a bid to verify the claim, Minivan News contacted the Criminal Court’s Media Official Mohamed Manik. When asked about the case, Manik told Minivan News that he would call back after reading the Haveeru article, though he not responding to further calls at the time of press.

Spy-cam footage allegedly depicting the Supreme Court Judge indulging in different sexual acts with multiple foreign women surfaced on local media last July.

The case rose to prominence once more after the Supreme Court’s decision to annul the first round of the presidential elections in October. Images and symbols depicting scenes from the sex-tape formed a prominent part of protests against the court’s repeated interference in the election.

The videos appeared shortly after a film – also involving Judge Hameed – began circulating on social media in which the Supreme Court Judge appeared to be discussing political influence in the judiciary with a local businessman.

The videos came after the arrest of Ahmed Faiz – a council member of former President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s Gaumee Ihthihaad Party (GIP) and the then-Project Advisor at the Housing Ministry – while he was allegedly trying to sell a sex-tape of the judge.

The public circulation of the videos and widespread media coverage on the scandal prompted both a police and a JSC investigation into the matter.

The then-Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz has previously confirmed to local media that the police had been probing the case.

Police subsequently summoned Judge Hameed for questioning in the same month as part of its investigation into the video.

“We are currently investigating two cases concerning the video. One is the case of those who had been using the video to blackmail the people in it, and the other concerns the content of the video,” the spokesperson said at the time.

However, apart from the summoning the police remained largely silent on the matter.

The JSC – whose mandate includes looking into the disciplinary issues and ethical conduct of Judges – also formulated a five member sub-committee to probe into the matter.

The initial members of the committee included JSC Vice-Chair Abdulla Didi, commission members Latheefa Gasim, Ahmed Rasheed and two lawyers outside the JSC – Mohamed Anil and Hussain Siraj.

However, following Anil’s appointment to cabinet as the new Attorney General, he was promptly replaced by veteran lawyer and President of Maldives Bar Association Husnu Al Suood.

Minivan News attempted to contact Police Media officials and the JSC Spokesperson but they were not responding to calls at time of press.

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Police uncover 77.46 grams of narcotics buried on Malé City street

The Maldives Police Services have uncovered 77.46 grams of narcotics buried under paving bricks on Saibani Goalhi in Malé City.

The police blocked the street on a tip off and discovered 30 rubber packets, 77 small rubber packets, a photo film box and two folded cellophane pieces containing narcotics.

A large amount of rubber packets used to pack narcotics were also found in the area, police said.

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