Three who ran prostitution ring via telegram charged

The Prosecutor General’s Office (PG Office) has pressed charges against suspects who ran a prostitution ring via Telegram.

The Telegram groups were seized by the Maldives Police Service in March and were titled ‘Jazeera Admin’, ‘Jazeera Escort Gallery’, ‘Jazeera Scam Alert’ and ‘Jazeera Link’.

The three suspects have been charged with:

• Distribution of pornographic content, money laundering, and facilitating prostitution in the Maldives
• Knowingly utilizing money earned by another individual through prostitution
• Publicizing content to encourage drug abuse or trafficking

The suspects have been identified as Ibrahim Rasheed, Dhafthar No: RS 12966, Nishaany Ali, Redhinge, Th. Veymandoo and Aisar Naseem, Veleege, GDh. Rathafandhoo.

In a statement, PG Office said the suspects were charged with money laundering as various sums of money earned through illegal means were circulated via multiple accounts.

The office noted that it had also requested to recover MVR 9 million earned through illegal means to the state.