Police fail to retrieve CCTV footage from minister’s house where drug party was held

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) has stated that the CCTV at Maandhooge Dhekunge, the house of Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Mohamed Ameen where a drug party allegedly took place, was “damaged”.

Maandhooge Dhekunuge is the house where Raud Ahmed Zilaal, who was with Hawwa Yumnu Rasheed who was found fallen from the ninth floor of H. Fentenoy onto the roof of an adjacent warehouse in the early hours of April 18, Ameen's nephews Izdiyaan Mohamed Maumoon and Yoosuf Ahmed Akram allegedly partied under the influence. The house is registered under the names of Ameen and his three siblings.

The police institution revealed that they couldn't obtain the CCTV footage from Minister Ameen's residence because the camera was damaged. They stated that according to the information provided by the house, the CCTV camera was not functioning.

While police have revealed this, they received information that the drug party took place at Maandhooge Dhekunuge on the night of April 17, after the incident of Yumnu's fall surfaced. However, police have not worked to find evidence, and it is suspected that they are trying to divert the case in a different direction.

Further, while it has been stated that the CCTV cameras installed at Ameen's house were damaged, the recording system was not shown to the police either. However, while police mentioned that the house where Ameen lives claimed the camera was damaged, they did not mention anything about the video recording system.

Even when asked at the latest press conference if they had obtained the CCTV footage from Ameen's house, police only said that they were working on obtaining it.

While police haven't obtained the CCTV footage from Maandhooge Dhekunuge, they have searched the terrace, second and fourth floors, as well as the third floor of Kashiveli. Police have not disclosed if they took anything into custody as part of these searches. However, MPS has confirmed that no evidence related to the case has been found.

After Yumnu’s case which surfaced on April 18, police attempts to find evidence from Ameen’s house was made much later, on April 24. In addition to this, although police said Minister Ameen had no influence in the case, during the police press conference, Minister Ameen had repeatedly called former Commissioner of Police Ali Shujau.

As public pressure mounted in the case of Yumnu's fall, the phones of a total of seven people, including Raud Ahmed Zilaal who was with Yumnu, have been confiscated under a court order. Also, the passports of everyone involved in this case have been withheld and they have been barred from leaving the country.

While there were suspicions that the police were trying to steer the investigation in a particular direction, the statements made and footage shown by the police in two separate press conferences were inconsistent. It is also suspected that on that night, along with Ameen's two nephews, individuals who have ties to high-ranking political figures and youth who worked to bring the president to power partied under the influence at Ameen's residence. However, due to delays in the police investigation and the case not being properly examined, evidence related to this has not been obtained.