119kg drug bust: hearing scheduled for Sunday cancelled
Charges were raised against three persons
G.Dh. Hoadehdhoo, Irumatheege, Ahmed Sunain , G.Dh. Hoadehdhoo, Guleynooranmaage, Ali Zubair, G.Dh. Hoadehdhoo, Alora Ahmed Mujaahir, from right to left.
A hearing scheduled in relation of 119 kilograms of drug seized by the Maldives Police Service, last December has been cancelled.
The hearing was scheduled for 10:30am, Sunday.
The hearing was cancelled as the Prosecutor General's Office revealed that their prosecutors did not receive the court order.
The hearing has been rescheduled to April 19.
An operation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Department of Police on 12 December 2021, in Male' and Hulhumale' saw officers confiscating 119 kilograms of illicit substances from a taxi a car and a motorcycle.
Maldives Police Service revealed that the the drug confiscated from the taxi was smuggled into Male' from the sea vessel "Bangaa", on the same day.
The last hearing of this case was held on March 23, 2022, and charges were raised against three persons. Charges were raised against G.Dh. Hoadehdhoo, Irumatheege, Ahmed Sunain, G.Dh. Hoadehdhoo, Guleynooranmaage, Ali Zubair, G.Dh. Hoadehdhoo, Alora Ahmed Mujaahir in suspect of trafficking Diamorphine.
However the three of them denied the charges raised against them.
Evidence put forward by the government prosecutors includes three intelligence reports. They requested to keep the contents of the intelligence reports as classified information, as they include information on ongoing cases, and if the information were to be made public, the suspects will get the opportunity to tamper with the evidence.
The defense attorneys and suspects were given the opportunity to read through the reports at the court. This however made the defense attorneys question what is the difference in them reading through the reports at the court and out of court.
While the defense and the government prosecutors debated on the topic, the Judge preceding the case, Dheebanaaz Fahumee questioned the prosecutors about how this would hinder the ongoing investigations. The prosecutors reiterated that handing over the whole report to the defense would give them the chance to read through all of the information.
Judge Dheebanaaz suggested handing over the reports to the defense after concealing the information that needed to be concealed from the defense. She also suggested giving the defense the opportunity to read through the reports at court, if they want to read through all of the information of the reports.
With both of the parties agreeing to this, the Judge ordered to proceed on this term. Since the prosecutors were given the chance to put forward their evidence against the suspects during the hearing, the Judge stated that the defense would be given the opportunity present their evidence on the next hearing.
Investigation on this case are still ongoing as two suspects related to this case, G.Dh. Hoadehdhoo, Arushad Khalid and Mohamed Akram Abdul, had fled the country on the same day the drugs were seized by the Police.
