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Criminal Court remands local insurgent who returned from Syria's civil war

Mariyam Malsa
16 October 2020, MVT 18:56
Maldivian insurgents in Syria. PHOTO: UNKNOWN
Mariyam Malsa
16 October 2020, MVT 18:56

The Criminal Court, on Friday, remanded the local insurgent who returned to Maldives after fighting in the ongoing Syrian civil war, for a period of seven days.

Maldives Police Service further revealed that the 34-year-old man's residence was searched on Thursday night as part of the investigation launched by the Serious and Organised Crime Department.

The issue of growing religious extremism in Maldives raised alarm in 2019, prompting authorities to clamp down on attempts to spread extremist ideologies in the island nation.

In December 2019, Commissioner of Police (CP) Mohamed Hameed declared that many insurgents who fought in the Syrian and Afghan conflicts returned to Maldives and continued to spread extremist ideologies in the country.

At the time authorities revealed statistics pertaining to the issue, disclosing that 59 insurgents were in Syria at the time, out of which most are children.

The statistics also noted that 432 individuals from across Maldives took interest in taking part in the Syrian conflict and attempted to travel to the warzone, and approximately 1,400 individuals are following the ideologies of Islamic State and will not hesitate to kill for their cause.

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