Indian man fined MVR 60,000 by the Criminal Court for attempting to smuggle gold into Maldives by swallowing it.
Maldives Customs scanned Sayid Mubarak Sayid Wajhudeen via their body scan machine when he was exhibiting suspicious behaviour after entering Maldives on December 30, 2021.
He was handed over to the Special Operations Section when it became apparent he was hiding something on his body. Mihaaru news reported that he had then agreed to remove the hidden objects on his own, and had confessed that the bullets in his stool were gold after using the toiled in the Customs Head Office.
The state had requested Criminal Court to let Customs Maldives seize the gold he had smuggled to Maldives.
The man had plead guilty to the charges against him and has signed a plea agreement with the state as well.
According to the Customs Act, if a person is guilty of attempting materials to Maldives, they may receive a jail sentence of six months to up to two years, in addition of being fined between MVR 10,000 to MVR 240,000.
The Criminal Court ruled that Sayid Mubarak Sayid Wajhudeen had been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of since he had pleaded guilty to the charge of smuggling goods in secret. The court also ordered to seize the gold he smuggled and fined him MVR 60,000.
The court order stated he was required to pay the fine within a period of five days.
Criminal Court had fined another Indian man MVR 60,000 in November of 2021 as well, who too had plead guilty to smuggling gold and other precious metals into Maldives.
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