Home minister's statement at parliament was based on information provided, says police

Maldives Police Service (MPS) has dismissed claims that Home Minister Imran Abdulla had lied at parliament earlier this week.

He was summoned for questioning on Monday, regarding the delay in extraditing wanted fugitive Abdulla Luthufee.

While Luthufee has since been brought back and handed over to the Maldives Correctional Services (MCS), the police released a statement on the matter on Wednesday night.

Noting that the minister was briefed prior to the sitting, police said that the information provided to him was based on the records of the work done to locate Luthufee.

The statement also highlighted that previous home ministers and senior police officials had done numerous works to locate and arrest him, and that records of the work had been logged by the relevant departments. It added that some of officers that were involved in the work are still at the institution.

It further assured the public that the information at the institution is credible.

At Monday’s sitting, Minister Imran said that authorities had been aware of his whereabouts in 2014 but that then-home minister Umar Naseer had refused to approve his extradition.

Naseer is to have said that that bringing Luthufee back to Maldives was “not a priority.”

The former home minister denies the allegation, saying that they made great efforts with Sri Lankan authorities to find Luthufee.

In a statement released on June 30, the police service stated that the government knew of Luthufee’s whereabouts from 2012-2016 but failed to take action. Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed has requested an investigation into the matter.

Luthufee- convicted and sentenced to life over the 1988 attempted coup that took the lives of 19 Maldivians- had been in hiding since being granted medical leave in 2010.

He is to turned himself in to the Maldives embassy on May 1. This was only revealed on June 24, after Naseer leaked the information online.