Minister Imran said that the police service had discovered leader of the 1988 coup Abdulla Luthufee’s location in 2014 but that then home minister Umar Naseer had refused to give his approval to extradite him.

Minister Imran said this during his questioning in parliament over the delay in returning Luthufee, who is currently at the Maldivian embassy in Colombo.

Minister Imran said that the police have told him that they had been unable to move forward after then Minister Umar said that bringing Luthufee back to Maldives was “not a priority”, despite the police being at the last stage of extraditing him.

Umar has denied the claims to RaajjeMV, saying that they made great efforts with Sri Lankan authorities to find Luthufee, including offering financial incentives to acquire his location.

Umar was the person who leaked information that Luthufee turned himself in at the embassy, while the current government initially kept the news secret.

In a press release on May 30, the police service stated that they had known of Luthufee’s whereabouts from 2012 – 2016, but that the previous government had refused to act. The Police Commissioner has ordered the professional standards command to investigate this issue.

The attempted coup in capital city Male’ on November 3, 1988, by a Sri Lankan militant group led to the death of 19 Maldivians. Due to Luthufee’s involvement, he was initially sentenced to death, which was reduced to life imprisonment by President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom.