A hearing in charges raised against Moosa Inas, native to Kalhaidhoo island of Laamu atoll in connection with the case regarding the arson attack on a police speedboat, has been held.

Currently ongoing in the trial is the stage where testimonies are collected.

Sunday’s hearing revolved around collecting the testimony of a firefighter who was active in dousing the fire. He was an individual who was employed as a fireman at the Kadhdhoo Fire Station in Laamu atoll, who had attended to the site of the fire.

The state witness who was first summoned during the hearing, was summoned on the basis of a report provided by a foreign intelligence agency

However, since the report could not be shared with the defence, the witness's testimony was postponed to another day.

The presiding judge stated that since the report was confidential, the defence would proceed with the testimony of the witness after allowing the defence to examine it as per the procedure laid down by the trial court.

The firefighter testified that efforts to extinguish the fire were carried out after the speedboat was pulled away using a rope.

The firefighter added that he believes the rope was tied by a person outside of the speedboat and that he believes it would have been difficult to tie the rope while onboard the speedboat.

Noting that he does not know who tied the rope, the fireman stated that the other end of the rope had been let loose and that he believes the rope was left there for the intention of pulling it away.

By the time firefighters attended the scene, the entire speedboat was on fire and there was no place where the fire had not spread, according to the witness said.

By the time firefighters reached, two officers of the Maldives Police Service (MPS) were also at the scene.

The next witness summoned is a mobile forensic examiner working at the Digital Evidence Laboratory of the police institution.

The witness’s testimony was recorded as mobile forensic examiner who compiled the report from the mobile forensic report submitted as evidence by the state.

To be analyzed in connection with the case was a Samsung-brand phone, however, the phone could not be examined as it had a lock code.

However, two SIM cards inserted inside the phone were examined.

The judge presiding over the trial is Judge Sofhath Habeeb.

In an earlier hearing, the officer who compiled the scene-of-crime report and also scanned the suspect’s residence, was presented to the Criminal Court as a witness. He revealed that several mobile phones were confiscated from the suspect’s residence in the raid, along with many religious books that did not have publisher details.

Police earlier discovered material such as videos and documents supporting and promoting extremism in hard disks confiscated during the investigation stage, from the residence of the one of the suspects. The material found on the hard disks supported the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda, revealed the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Inas’s residence was raided in his presence.

Presented as a witness next was an officer who was among the officers who arrested Inas, from a plot of land issued for agricultural use in the island.

The officer, who was also active in the raid on the suspect’s house, revealed that Inas had his mobile phone at the time of his arrest.

Terrorism charges were initially raised on Inas and Abdul Latheef Ibrahim native of Gan Island in the same atoll.

Inas was found guilty of involvement in the Sultan Park bombing back in 2007, for which he has served out a sentence as well.

With this being said, state prosecutors had earlier stated that there is adequate evidence to prove the charges currently raised against him, adding that he has been remanded for public safety as he was behind the arson attack on police vessels which caused losses to the state and created fear among the public.

Charges were raised on the two Maldivian men under the Anti-Terrorism Act and they stand to face a jail term between 20 – 25 years if they are found guilty.

PGO revealed that Abdul Latheef had confessed to obstructing law enforcement by destroying evidence and that he was sentenced to one year and 12 days in prison by the Gan Magistrate Court, on 6 July 2020.

The arson attack took place on 22 March 2020 and the Islamic State had taken responsibility for the fire that burned five boats docked at Mahibadhoo harbor, to crisp. This came after police revealed that the fire is “believed to be a terrorist attack”, citing similarities with other such attacks on a sea ambulance as well as police and council speedboats.

A report published earlier by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) indicated that the Islamic State is working in the Maldives “with a network of supporters”.