13M cigarette heist: Alleged ringleaders Aattey and Dhigali released from custody

Two business magnate who the police believe funded the theft of two containers of smuggled cigarettes from a seaport in Hulhumale’ have been released from police custody.

The two containers containing 13.6 million sticks of cigarettes smuggled into the Maldives were seized by Maldives Customs Service on April 26, and kept at Hulhumale’ International Port, a facility managed by the Maldives Ports Limited (MPL). The theft of the cigarettes was reported on October 9, and the police made the first arrests in the case on October 15.

Among the first to be arrested were business magnates who the police believe funded the heist – Ahmed Arif (Aattey), the owner of Lotus, and Mohamed Waheed (Dhigali), the owner of Apollo Holdings.

They are among 11 suspects arrested in the case, and were initially ordered in jail pending the outcome of their trial.

The 11 suspects:

• Ahmed Arif (Aattey), 61, the owner of Lotus
• Mohamed Waheed (Dhigali), 65, the owner of Apollo Holdings
• Zivar Ismail, 40, a high-ranking Customs official
• Muaz Ali, 48, a former Customs official who now works as the general manager for engineering and projects at Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO)
• Adam Waheed, 57, an employee of Apollo Holdings and captain of the boat allegedly used to transport the containers
• Hassan Abdul Rahman, 52, an employee of Apollo Holdings
• Ahmed Shaheem, 42, an employee of MPL
• Hussain Samih, 35, an employee of MPL
• Ahmed Firushan, 35, an employee of MPL
• Mohamed Alamin Mia, 36, Bangladeshi
• Mohamed Shareef, Dhafthar no. RS 1355, K. Male'

In a statement on Thursday afternoon, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) announced that the police had concluded their investigation into the case and filed a request with the office on December 3 to file charges against all 11 suspects.

The PGO said they revised the detention of the suspects on Thursday, as they get ready to prosecute the case.

The PGO said they filed requests with the Criminal Court on Thursday seeking conditional releases for Aattey and Dhigali, as well as Hassan Abdul Rahman, an employee of Apollo Holdings who was in charge of the Thilafushi site where the stolen containers are believed to have been taken to.

“The court honored this office’s request,” said the PGO.

The PGO said it made the decision due to lack of evidence either of the three suspects was actively involved in the heist.

The PGO noted that the 11th suspect in the case, Mohamed Shareef, was already out of police custody when the case was submitted to the police, meaning there are now eight suspects in police custody.

The PGO said it found no grounds to revise the detention of the eight remaining suspects due to evidence they actively participated in the heist, and some of them are accused of abusing their state jobs in the commission of the crime.