Officers have granted protection to journalists from online news source, Maldives Independent, after they received death threats.

The journalists, Hassan Mohamed and Hassan Moosa, are in Faafu atoll, which is to undergo a USD 10 billion project that involved its sale to Saudi Arabia.

The Maldives Police Service said that they had asked for protection on Tuesday night after they were threatened but had not provided any information on those that had done so.

Maldives Independent said that journalists had gone to the police of their own volition, and their phones have been switched off since. Reportedly, the journalists had conducted interviews of residents of Nilandhoo Island, to the dismay of some.

Both journalists are still in NIlandhoo Island.