Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the 2014 abduction and murder of journalist Ahmed Rilwan.

Maldives Police Service (MPS) arrested three suspects during a special operation launched in connection with the abduction and murder of Rilwan as well as the murder of blogger Yameen Rasheed in 2017. The two cases are high-profile murder investigations by the Presidential Inquiry Commission on Disappearances and Deaths (DDCom).

The three suspects arrested on Sunday are Ahmed Ismail, 39, Ahmed Muaz, 40 and Ismail Abdul Raheem, 30.

The three were accused of being involved in acts of terrorism, in planning as well as executing crimes linked to the two high-profile murder cases.

Rilwan was last seen purchasing a ticket to the Hulhumalé ferry from capital city Malé, on 8 August 2014. Two years later in 2016, the police had confirmed that Rilwan was abducted and that one of the men caught trailing Rilwan on CCTV footage had been identified as Mohamed Suaid, who was arrested but released by the Criminal Court in November 2014. He has since been declared dead in fighting in Syria , where he left to, shortly after being released from remand.

Two men accused of abducting Rilwan were acquitted in 2018; one of these suspects is the owner of the red car believed to have been used to abduct the journalist, with investigators saying that DNA analysis of hair lifted from the trunk of the car matched that of Rilwan’s mother.

The Commission on Disappearances and Deaths confirmed that Rilwan was killed by an extremist group in 2019.

The commission has also linked Rilwan’s murder to two other high-profile murders in the Maldives; the 2012 murder of Ungoofaaru MP Dr. Afrasheem Ali and the 2017 murder of social media activist Yameen.

Earlier, DDCom also sought assistance in collecting information related to a knife they found outside of Rilwan’s apartment building in Hulhumalé. The knife is believed to have been dropped by his attackers during the abduction. Rilwan was forced inside a red car, outside of his apartment in Hulhumale; back in July, DDCom released a reenactment video of the abduction.

Yameen Rasheed was stabbed to death in the early hours on 23 April 2017 in an attack that shook the nation. His body was found on the staircase of his residence, with over 30 stab wounds. While his attackers were caught on CCTV footage, police had said that they had been "in disguise".

The state charged six individuals with first-degree murder over Yameen's death on 30 July 2017; Ismail Haisham Rasheed, Hussain Ziyad, Ismail Rasheed, Hassan Shifaz, Mohamed Dhifran, and Ahmed Zihan Ismail.

While Yameen had received multiple death threats prior to the fatal attack, they were reported to authorities but to no avail. Hence, his family has accused police of negligence.