Criminal Court finds actress Mal not guilty on drug trafficking charge

Criminal Court, on Thursday, found actress Maleeha Waheed (Mal) accused of dimorphine trafficking, not guilty of the charge.

Mal, along with another woman was arrested with drugs on August 27, 2019, shortly after arriving on the island of ADh. Maamigili.

Prosecution said that when Mal and her travel companion were stopped and searched at Maamigili harbor – a plastic packet containing 15.777 grams of dimorphine was seized from a suitcase containing their their clothes.

Mal’s travel companion was also charged with dimorphine trafficking in connection to the case.

Both of them had pled not guilty to charges. Criminal Court’s ruling issued in the case on Thursday stated that the prosecution had been unable to prove that the drugs discovered from the suitcase belonged to them.

In this regard, it was noted that their finger prints had not shown up on the plastic packet which contained the drugs – whereas the police had not been able to confirm whether the clothes from from the suitcase belonged to the women.

Underscoring that when the suitcase was idle at the harbor when first spotted and seized – Criminal Court said that none of the witnesses testified to seeing Mal or her companion in possession of the bag at any time.

Stressing the suitcase was note locked – the court noted that there was a chance anyone could have put anything inside.

Therewith, Judge Faiz Hussain Rashad who was presiding over the case concluded that Mal and her companion were not guilty of the drug trafficking charge due to insufficient evidence to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

As per the Drugs’ Act – persons found guilty of diphormine trafficking can be sentenced to life in prison and fined by an amount between MVR 100,000 – MVR 10,000,00.