A man has been remanded for stealing from a mosque.

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) revealed that the 31-year-old suspect was arrested in connection with the theft from Taqwa Mosque, on April 1. MPS Spokesperson Ahmed Shifan revealed that the individual accused of stealing fans from Taqwa Mosque was caught and brought into police custody on Monday.

He was arrested from the crime scene, while carrying the fan believed to have been stolen.

As part of the investigation, police have recovered the stolen fans, which were sold. The six fans were recovered over the past two days.

Upon being presented to the Criminal Court on April 1, the mosque burglar was remanded for a period of 15 days.

Malé City Council revealed that seven fans were stolen from Taqwa Mosque, all in the span of three nights.

A video footage of the suspect has been published by the city council on social media platform ‘X’.

The video shows a young man entering the mosque and walking out with a stand fan placed inside. His facial features are not clear in the video clip, however, he was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans.

This comes at a time the issue of theft from mosques has been surging during the fasting month of Ramadan.

As such, the water meter inside Dharumavantha Mosque was also stolen recently. Earlier, two fans were stolen from the mosque as well. The suspect remanded in connection with the theft from Taqwa Mosque, is believed to be linked to this case as well.

The case is being probed by the police institution.