Probe initiated over lack of previous action to extradite Luthfee

Commissioner of Police, Mohamed Hameed (MC Hameed) has ordered an investigation into Maldives Police Service over its lack of proper action to extradite fugitive Abdulla Luthfee during the former administrations despite credible intel on his whereabouts.

Luthfee is the mastermind behind the terror plot of November 3, 1988 to overthrow former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s administration which killed 19 Maldivian citizens.

He had been on the run since he was granted medical furlough to travel to Sri Lanka for medical treatment on January 16, 2010.

Maldives Police Service, in a press statement this Sunday, revealed that verified information as to the whereabouts of Luthfee collected by police officers was shared with senior police officials on multiple occasions from 2012 to 2016.

The agency announced that CP Hameed, on Thursday, June 27, ordered the Professional Standards Command of the Police for an investigation into why no action was taken to extradite Luthfee during that period.

The probe into lack of extradition efforts during previous administrations comes as the current administration itself is under fire over the case.

Luthfee, after nearly a decade on the run, surrendered himself to Maldivian government officials at the embassy in Colombo on May 1 amid security sweeps in the country following the Easter bombings on April 21.

Official confirmation of the surrender came nearly two months later, on June 24, after the news was reported by local press.

Maldives Police Service, in its press statement this Sunday, said that the agency has communicated with senior Sri Lankan police officials and senior officials from the crime investigative department of the country on multiple occasions in an effort to expedite Luthfee’s extradition.

“Multiple communications have been exchanged via phone and letter with the Acting Inspector General of Sri Lankan police force C. D. Wickramaratne, and Deputy Inspector General of Crime Investigation Department Ravi Seneviratne in an effort to urge Sri Lankan authorities to expedite Abdulla Luthfee’s extradition to Maldives in the spirit of police-to-police cooperation.”