Committee meeting closed as police summoned in cigarette smuggling case

The press was barred from a meeting of the Parliament’s Security Services Committee (241 Committee) on Monday, in which police officials were summoned for questioning in a recent cigarette smuggling case.

On October 25, authorities raided the K. Thilafushi boatyard of The Hawks - one of the country’s top importers and distributors of fuel. According to Maldives Customs, they seized an illegal shipment totaling 1.695 million sticks of Manchester cigarettes from one of Hawks’ ships.

The Security Services Committee held a meeting on Monday morning, in which it summoned police officials for questioning regarding the case. It follows a meeting in the same case with Homeland Security Minister Ali Ihusan on October 30, which was also held behind closed doors.

At Monday’s meeting, Thulhaadhoo MP Abdul Hannan Aboobakr suggested holding a closed meeting. This was seconded by Hulhudhoo MP Mohamed Shahid, and passed by unanimous consensus of the committee members in attendance.

In a statement in October, Hawks said it has suspended the employees found to have been involved in smuggling the cigarette cartons, without specifying a number. It also insisting that the company had zero involvement in the smuggling racket, and was cooperating fully with the authorities.

The Hawks is one of the country’s biggest importers and distributors of fuel. In its statement, the company said it is not involved in and nor does it have any interest in engaging in the tobacco business.