Expat remanded over theft of 1,360 cases of seized cigarettes
Police said the suspect — the tenth person arrested in the case — was taken into custody on Wednesday.
An expatriate worker has been arrested and remanded in custody pending trial in connection with the theft of two containers containing 1,360 cases of cigarettes from Maldives Ports Limited’s (MPL) Hulhumalé port. The containers had earlier been seized by Maldives Customs Service for containing illegal cigarettes.
Police said the suspect — the tenth person arrested in the case — was taken into custody on Wednesday.
The arrested individual has been identified as Mohamed Alamin Mia, 36, from Bangladesh. He has been ordered to remain in custody pending the conclusion of his trial.
Police have described the incident as one of the largest thefts recorded at a commercial port in the Maldives. Several others have been arrested in connection with the case, including:
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Mohamed Waheed, shareholder of Apollo Company
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Ahmed Arif, owner of Lotus
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Muaz Ali, former Customs staff, now a general manager at MIFCO
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Ziwar Ismail, head of a department at Customs
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Hassan Abdul Rahman, employee of Apollo
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Adam Waheed, captain of the vessel used to transport the containers and an Apollo employee
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Ahmed Shaheem, MPL employee
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Hussain Samih, MPL employee
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Ahmed Firsan, MPL employee
Arif, Muaz, Ziwar, Firsan, Adam Waheed and Mohamed Waheed have also been remanded in custody pending trial.
Authorities have not yet disclosed further details on how the containers were removed or how the operation was coordinated. The investigation is ongoing.
