Police have disclosed the identities of the three individuals arrested most recently in relation to the theft of over 13 million cigarettes.
To date, nine individuals have been arrested in connection with the theft of two shipping containers containing over 13 million cigarettes. The containers had been seized by Customs in April while being smuggled in under the name of Saudi Arabia's Bin Ladin group and were stored at the MPL Port at the time of the theft.
The three individuals arrested yesterday are:
- Ahmed Shaheem, 42, Nooraleege, HDh. Vaikaradhoo
- Ahmed Firshan, 35, H. Rumania
- Hussain Saamih, 35, Chaandhaneege, Addu Hithadhoo
The court placed Shameem and Saamih in remand in custody for a period of seven days, and Firshan for five days.
Renowned businessmen Mohamed Waheed (Dhigali) of Apollo Holdings and Ahmed Arif (Aattey) of Lotus have been arrested on charges of funding the theft operation.
Dhigali was initially given ten days remand, but the court later extended it to hold him in custody until the end of trial. Aattey was given 15 days remand, which is yet to expire.
Police have earlier said that in relation to this case, travel bans have been placed on 12 individuals. MPL, meanwhile, has said that six members of staff have been suspended.
The two 40 feet containers had 1,360 cigarette cases, which comes to a total of 13.6 million cigarette sticks. Customs said that taking into account the seized brands, duty charges for this amount of cigarettes would come to MVR 122 million.
