Two suspected of large-scale drug peddling, money laundering rearrested

Criminal Court has ordered the rearrest of two men arrested from Fuvahmulah City on suspicion of involvement in large-scale drug peddling and money laundering that had been released by the High Court earlier.

The suspects arrested under a court order on December 9th were identified as Ahmed Niushadh, 34, Karanka Villa, Dhoodigan, Gn. Fuvahmulah and Hassan Azim, 29, Zamaaneege, Dhoodigan, Gn. Fuvahmulah.

High Court released the suspects on January 9^th. However, Criminal Court issued an order for their arrest on Sunday.

Criminal Court, in their order, said it does not see any obstruction to rearrest the two suspects under a new arrest warrant despite the High Court’s decision to overturn Fuvahmulah Magistrate Court’s decision remanding both suspects in custody pending the outcome of their trial.

The Court, citing the Investigative Officer (IO), said the investigation into the case had been proceeding since June of last year, adding charges have been brought against additional suspects implicated in the case. Also citing the IO, the court said the suspects had circulated large sums of money in their bank accounts despite which there are no records of them having permanent employment.  

As such, the Court ordered the suspects to be detained at a custodial prison within seven days, starting from yesterday.

Prior to this, reported that investigations revealed over MVR 21 million in transactions had been conducted from Niushad's personal account in the past five years, while more than MVR 7 million in transactions had been conducted from Azim's personal bank account in the last two years.