Woman arrested from airport on suspicion of murdering abandoned baby

Police have arrested a foreign woman from Velana International Airport (VIA) in connection to the abandoned newborn baby who was discovered dead at AA. Dhigurah on Sunday morning.

Sun has learned that the woman arrested this afternoon was a Sri Lankan. The woman who was working in Dhigurah was arrested while at the airport to depart abroad.

A resident from Dhigurah who assisted in transporting the dead baby to the health centre told Sun that the baby was a female, born-full term.

She would approximately weigh three kilos, the resident added.

As per the resident, her umbilical cord had not been severed. Therefore, she said it was likely that the baby was discovered shortly after she was abandoned.

“[The body] was very fresh. Think she was born at dawn,” the resident said.

The resident, noting no external injuries were observed, said it was likely the baby was murdered by suffocating her.

Dhigurah Council President Ibrahim Usman who spoke to Sun earlier in the day said the baby was inside a bag of waste collected from households and guesthouses on the island.

He detailed that the baby was discovered while emptying waste bags collected from households and guesthouses back at the waste management centre to destroy the waste.