Drug Enforcement Department seizes illegal narcotics worth Rf1 million

A haul of illegal narcotics valued at more than Rf1 million was seized over the past two weeks, Superintendent Ahmed Jinah, head of the Police Drug Enforcement Department (DED), told local media today.

Jinah revealed that the total street value of the seized illegal drugs was estimated at about Rf1,040,000 (US$80,900).

“During  a special operation conducted by police, [we] seized 425 large packets of illegal drugs that were yet to be distributed to the streets,” he said. ”Two men have been arrested in connection with this case.”

Jinah did not divulge the names of the two persons adding that the investigation was at an early stage.

”The capture of these packets was a great success, as it could potentially have been out in the streets,” he said.

He added that police were now trying to determine who else may be involved in the case as well as how the drugs were smuggled in to the country.

Jinah claimed said that the past two weeks had been very successful in terms of the work of the police DED.

“We have seven very serious drug related cases now currently under investigation,” he said.

During the press conference, Inspector Ibrahim Nawaz, deputy head of the Serious and Organized Crime Department (SOC), said that police were currently trying to ensure that public parks and other public areas were safe and free of criminal activity.

“We are now monitoring the public parks and places made to comfort people at their free time, to make sure it is really used by the public,” Nawaz said.

Meanwhile, said Nawaz, a second round of rehabilitation programmes for minors was now underway at the Feydhufinolhu correctional training centre for juvenile delinquents.

“The qualification of some of the children we have at Feydhufinolhu is such a low level that it is hard for us to believe,” he said. “There are some children that do not even know how to read and write.”

The programme was intended for young people between the ages of 16 to 18.

“We advise parents to be more attentive to their children,” he said. “Sometimes, it has been reported that children threaten their parents telling them they will be physically attacked if their names were given to police to send them to Feydhufinolhu.”

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam meanwhile referred to a recent decision to publicise the identities of 17 high-profile “dangerous criminals” together with their crime records and alleged gang affiliation. Shiyam revealed that police have since received complaints from residents of certain areas in Male’ saying that they did not wish to be linked with the names of the gangs.

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