Supreme Court has overturned the arms smuggling conviction against former Defence Minister Col. (Rtd). Mohamed Nazim.

The court gave out the ruling at hearing held at 8pm on Thursday.

The former defence minister was sentenced to 11 years in prison in March 2015, after being found guilty of smuggling dangerous weapons. He has been transferred to house arrest and back, a few times since, and has traveled abroad on medical leave twice.

Nazim was arrested after a police raid at his residence, where masked officers confiscated a black bag. They are to have discovered ‘a pistol, three bullets and a magazine’ from this bag.

Earlier this year, former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb- also convicted on multiple charges- admitted that the pistol found in Nazim’s apartment had been 'planted'.

United National Working Group of Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), in 2017, citing several issues in the investigation ruled that Nazim’s detention is illegal and declared that he should be released immediately.

Earlier on Thursday, Supreme Court quashed the corruption conviction against former Dhiggaru constituency MP Ahmed Nazim.