Prison officer's remand unlawful in contraband smuggling case, rules High Court

The High Court of Maldives has ruled that one of the Maldives Correctional Services' officers arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs and other contrabands including mobile phones into Maafushi Prison was wrongly detained pending trial.

A total of 18 individuals were arrested in the case last June, in a special operation carried out at the prison by Maldives Police Service.

However, one individual, arrested directly from Maafushi, was released yesterday by the High Court after it overturned the Criminal Court’s remand order following an appeal.

The individual was also not charged due to a lack of evidence.

The High Court, citing the Criminal Procedure, stated that the individual should have been brought before the Maafushi Magistrate Court for the remand hearing, as the arrest occurred on the island. While recognising the state's argument that the individual was presented to the Criminal Court due to being transferred to Malé because of inadequate facilities in Maafushi Police Station, the court ruled that the Criminal Court lacked jurisdiction to issue the ruling.

As such, the Criminal Court's remand order was quashed.

Following the operation, police reported that 18 officers were involved in the smuggling, with their bank accounts receiving MVR 73.6 million in total within a year. However, only five individuals are being charged in the case as of now.

So far, three of the five have entered into plea deals with the state.