Police have arrested another person in the case of missing cigarettes that were seized by Customs while being smuggled and stored at Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) Hulhumalé Port.
The cigarettes were seized on the night of April 26 and went missing last Wednesday. Previously, four people were arrested for their alleged roles in the theft.
Hassan Abdulrahman, 52, was arrested yesterday. Adam Waheed was arrested today and sentenced to seven days in detention.
The case also implicates prominent Maldivian businessmen, including Ahmed Arif, owner of Lotus, and Mohamed Waheed (Dhigali), owner of Apollo. Customs officers Zivaar Ismail and former Superintendent Muaz Ali have also been arrested. Travel bans have been placed on 12 individuals connected to the incident.
A total of 1,360 cases of cigarettes, smuggled under the name of Saudi Arabia’s Bin Laden Group, were at the center of the investigation.
