No evidence of financial motive behind attack on Maldives ex-leader

Maldives police have said that there is no proof that the assassination attempt on former President Mohamed Nasheed’s life was funded by an extremist organization despite his attackers supporting ISIS ideologies.

Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed and Assistant Commissioner Mohamed Riyaz were joined by Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem at a press conference on Saturday night, where they revealed some details of the investigation into the terrorist attack.

Nasheed, who is also the current parliament speaker, was the target of a remote controlled bomb in Maldives congested capital Male’ City on May 6. He had just left his house and was about to get into his car when a bomb attached to a motorbike exploded.

At Saturday’s press conference, the police commissioner revealed that this was not the only attempt on the former president’s life, noting that the same suspects had made two attempts prior since purchasing a motorcycle in 2019; noting that this motorcycle was bought with the intention of installing an improvised explosive device, police said that the same cycle was used in the attack on May 6.

Hameed said that the suspects had first tried to kill Nasheed in 2019, when he was residing at his wife Laila Ali Abdulla’s home, Yaagoothge in the Maafannu ward of the city. However, they are to have abandoned the idea as it proved too difficult. Next, there had been discussions to attack the former president while he was out for exercise, but the suspects were unable to carry forward with this as well.

While the May 6 attack was their third and last attempt, ACP Riyaz said that it was motivated due to extremist ideologies by a group that had declared Nasheed as a kafir.

The assistant commissioner said that the suspects supported ISIS ideologies, but that the investigation is yet to find direct links between the local cell and ISIS.

Further, Riyaz said that while the suspects required a lot of financial support for the operation -including purchasing motorcycle, mechanical fixes to it as well as renting apartment to build IED- that the is no evidence of financial motivation. However, he stressed that this does not mean that the investigation into the matter has been closed, assuring that they will continue to look into all aspects.

He said that the investigation so far shows that the suspects, a total of 10 revealed, had acted on their own due to their personal hatred for the former president and his work against religious extremism and corruption.

The assistant police commissioner also revealed that the suspects in this terror cells believed that Maldives is “a land of sin” and that they did not recognize the state or the government.

Police have arrested 10 suspects in relation to the terrorist attack. While five of their identities were previously revealed, cases against Ahmed Adhuham, 25, Mujaz Ahmed, 21, Thahumeen Ahmed, 32 and Ahmed Fathih, 23 have been forwarded for prosecution.

While police had revealed the identity of a fourth suspect –Ali Haisham, 27– earlier this month, identities of the remaining four suspects were disclosed at Saturday’s press conference; Fahmy Ali, Mohamed Nazim, Mohamed Thasleem, Abdulla Ali Manik and Is’haq.

Police, who have been conducting the investigation with assistance from the United States and the Australian Federal Police, showed an animated video of the movements of the suspects on May 6 and the day before the attack. With photos from various CCTV cameras across capital Male’ and suburban district Hulhumale’, the video showed the suspects moving in various vehicles, taking different routes but always keeping close distance, prior to the attack.

After the attack, the main suspect who is seen detonating bomb near Athama Palace, Adham moves around until he gets to a spot where he could change his clothes, which was brought by two of his accomplices with another picking up the bag he left with the clothes worn during attack.

They are then seen headed to a guesthouse, where they remained low for the night until early next morning.

Police had at a previous press conference revealed that Adham’s family had informed them that he had not returned home the night of the attack, only the next day.

At the press conference, PG Shameem said that a decision on pressing charges against the suspects will be made before August 4, the last day to do so according to Maldives laws, after going through the 11 boxes of evidence forwarded by the police.