Maldives Police Service (MPS) has retrieved the weapon used to murder the 59-year-old taxi driver Gasim Hassan.

Commissioner of Police, Mohamed Hameed posted an update of the murder case on Thursday, revealing that crucial forensic evidence has been retrieved from the scene of the crime.

While the murder weapon is included in the retrieved evidence, others include DNA and fingerprints.

The weapon, Hameed revealed, was found inside the bushes on the side of the road, about 300 meters from where Gasim’s body was found, lying face-down in a puddle of blood.

He further revealed that police’s CCTV footage analysis confirms the movement of Gasim’s taxi in capital city Malé’s suburbs Hulhumalé, where his body was found.

While the police have gotten a lead in the case a week after the gruesome murder of Gasim, Hameed confirmed that a team of investigators is working to identify the culprits.

The 59-year-old taxi driver was slain on the night of 4 December, he was stabbed to death by gang members.

While he was rushed to Hulhumalé Hospital with stab wounds on his neck and several other parts of his body, Gasim was pronounced dead on arrival.

A few days following his murder, the association of drivers called on the government to implement the death penalty on the culprits, and to punish them duly, as stated in Islamic law.

Close associates said that they don’t believe there is “any reason” to kill Gasim.

This comes at a time the department has drawn public criticism over the delay in serving justice for the slain taxi driver, with some taking to social media that investigations “are slow because he was an ordinary man” and condemning the delay in seeking out the perpetrators.