Thief armed with machete steals MVR 4,000 from Kulhudhuffushi store

A thief armed with a machete broke into a hardware store in Kulhudhuffushi City early Sunday, and stole over MVR 4,000 from the cash register.

Mohamed Moosa, the owner of Farireethi Hardware, told Sun the incident took place around 05:15 am.

Moosa said the thief broke into the store by breaking the lock using the machete.

The theft was caught on CCTV.

Video footage shows the thief, a man wearing a short-sleeved floral shirt and jeans, steal all the money in the cash register.

Moosa said the cash register had over MVR 4,000.

“Though I usually keep MVR 2,500 in the cash register after wrapping up the sales each night, I kept around MVR 4,292 last night,” he said.

Moosa said the thief was known to him.

He said that though the man hadn’t stolen anything until Sunday, he had forced his way into the store and intimidated them on multiple occasions in the past.

Moosa said the theft had been well-planned, and the timing had been set to when everyone would be busy performing the fajr prayer.

The theft was reported to police an hour after it took place.

A police spokesperson said a 25-year-old Maldivian male had been arrested in connection to the case.

The case is under investigation by police.

Sun has been informed the suspect has a record of arrests in prior thefts, but had been released each time due to lack of evidence.