Maldives Police Service (MPS) has arrested a man who married his children off illegally.

Officers arrested the 45-year-old man from Maalhos island in Alif Alif atoll at around 11:44am on Saturday, revealed police media official.

The man is accused of supporting religious extremism and spreading extremism in the island community as well as negligence towards his children.

He is to have neglected his children their rights and even married them off, “out of court” as minors.

While MPS has begun an operation across the outlying islands to seek out extremists in their efforts to battle the spread of extremism, a few arrests have been made from Maduvvari island of Raa atoll, where the operation began. The police are continuing the operation in seven other islands, at a time the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) has also confirmed that there are isolated groups among the society who are conspiring to promote the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Maldives, spread extremism and even recruit Maldivians to foreign war zones.

NCTC has since appealed on the public to reach out to them if any information is attained regarding suspicious behavior or acts that may be considered harmful to the national peace and security.

Earlier, Commissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed revealed that there are about 1,400 individuals in the country, “willing to kill” at the slightest provocation.