Maldives Police Service confiscated the mobile phone of social media activist Ahmed Ashraf, over allegedly leaking state secrets to the online media platform 'MvCrisis'.
Ashraf, who is popularly known by his online moniker Shumba Gong, was summoned to the police late Monday night. Police seized his phone under a warrant issued by Criminal Court Judge Ali Rasheed at 0100 hours on Tuesday morning.
According to the court order, Ashraf is accused of seeking to leak confidential information about the state via MvCrisis and obstructing state functioning. The warrant read that Ashraf's mobile phones, SIM cards and memory cards are to be seized for a period of 30 days to find evidence connecting him to the allegations.
The order further noted that the police accuse Ashraf of operating the MvCrisis page, and the warrant was issued based on the evidence of MvCrisis' posts and intelligence report.
Police spokesperson, Chief Inspector of Police Izmia Zahir, confirmed that Ashraf was summoned to Police Headquarters for questioning over an ongoing investigation. She stated that Police were taking the necessary action in the case but did not disclose further details.
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