Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan has revealed today that there are 46 known thieves in Male' area who have been intercepted over 4000 times by Police.
Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan has revealed today that there are 46 known thieves in Male' area who have been intercepted over 4000 times by Police.
Speaking at the Parliament Committee on National Security Services, Ihusan said that robberies in Male' region are generally being committed by 46 repeat offenders. He stated that within the past 6 months, police have interacted with these 46 thieves on 4000 separate times.
He said that some of these people have been arrested at times, while other times they are released after being given advice.
Ihusan said that due to certain issues in existing laws, even when arrested, these persons are released back into society without reasonable action being taken.
"The issue is, we arrest them, their urine tests positive, and we take them to one Court. But the Court would say no, this is not a drug related issue, but rather a criminal offence. Then we take them to Criminal Court and they might say that it is, in fact, a drug related offence. So the law needs to clearly specify which court offenders must be taken to in such cases," Ihusan said.
"Sometimes when we take them to court, the court says they have no jurisdiction over the case, and the person gets released."
Police are allowed to hold persons in custody for 24 hours from the time of arrest.
"It is due to this challenge that all these days, even after 4000 interactions, they remain out in society," Ihusan said.
Ihusan further said that a special operation targeting the 21 most critical individuals out of these has been commenced last week. Under this, 10 of the individuals have been taken for treatment at National Drug Agency, while four have been detained for various other offences.
Police are currently looking for the remaining seven individuals.
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