Police arrest two for attack on chief prosecutor

Two men have been arrested in connection with the assault on Prosecutor General (PG) Hussain Shameem, police said Thursday.

Shameem was attacked outside his house on early Wednesday morning. Commissioner of Police Ali Shujau told reporters on Thursday that two people have been arrested on suspicion of the attack.

At the press conference, Shujau revealed:

“From the moment the case was reported to the police services, we used all our resources to find those who were actively involved in the attack,” he said, noting that locating them so fast was proof of how seriously the police were investigating this case.

"If there is any such attack on a Maldivian citizen or anyone living in Maldives in the future, we will take it very seriously. At the same time, we will not allow such things to happen”.

Chief Superintendent of Police Ahmed Nafiz, head of the Crime Investigation Department, who attended the press conference, said there may be others behind the attack.

"This is the PG of the state. Therefore, the attack on the prosecutor general is an attack on one of the powers of the state. Such things will not be allowed by the police or the government," Nafiz said.

Replying to some questions from journalists, Nafiz added that bodyguards have now been appointed to provide security to Shameem. He said that Shameem's bodyguards were not with him at the time of the attack and his security arrangements were made at the time according to a message given by Shameem himself.

A reporter prodded Nafiz again, to affirm whether the absence of security for the PG on Wednesday was because he had requested it, and Shujau responded by saying that the police had begun providing security to Shameem following a threat assessment made in connection with a case in court a while ago.

"But after that, when it was over, we stopped providing security. This incident happened at a time when there was no security assigned to him. So, the information mentioned earlier was not the best," said CP Shujau, referring to what Nafiz had said.

However, he did not elaborate on why the security had been called off.

Police did not disclose many details about the incident as it is still early in the investigation.