May 6 terror attack: A three million dollar 'job'

The Chairman of the May 6 Committee of People’s Majilis and Vilifushi MP Hassan Afeef has stated that information has surfaced that the IED attack outside the residence of Parliament Speaker, former President Mohamed Nasheed on May 6 was a three-million-dollar “task”.

Afeef made this statement during a meeting held last night amongst MDP parliamentarians to review the work carried out by the Committee this week in their probe of the attack.

In this regard, he detailed that Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb had received a phone call from a friend on the night of May 3 requesting to meet up. As the friend stressed that it was an important matter on the call, Ilyas met with him at around 23:30 that night.

“During the meeting, Ilyas was told by his friend that a three-million-dollar reward has been offered to assassinate Nasheed and that at present the advance payment of this sum was being arranged,” Afeef added.

“Upon hearing this, Ilyas asked his friend how the attack will be carried out to which he replied that the orchestrators of the attack were ‘brain washing’ religious extremists to put the plan in motion,” Afeef said.

Ilyas then visited Nasheed at his residence where he shared this intel. Nasheed requested that this information be shared with Defense Minister Mariya Didi.

“Following this, Ilyas had called Mariya on the morning of May 4 to inform of the plan. Mariya then assured that Nasheed was already being provided with the highest level of security,” Afeef also said.

A homemade remote-controlled IED was strapped to a motorcycle parked nearby Nasheed’s residence, and was detonated at 08:27 pm on May 6, just as Nasheed, 54, exited his residence and went to get in his car. Nasheed was thrown to the ground and sustained multiple shrapnel wounds, while three members of his security detail and two bystanders sustained minor wounds.

Currently, Nasheed is undergoing further treatment at a military hospital in Germany.