Police have said that a news report published by Adhadhu detailing the increase in theft and robbery in the Male' area is the "bitter truth."
Police Spokesman Ahmed Shifan posted the news report "A network of thieves in Male', no way to stop them!" in the police media group and said the police accept it as the "bitter truth."
Shifan said one of the reasons for this was that 454 people were released from jail 10 months ago.
"Because of a large [criminal] population of 454 people, released by MCS [Maldives Correctional Service] 10 months ago, and a lack of structural infrastructure to keep up with the times, we are in a very serious [crime] crisis,” he wrote.
According to police statistics, theft was the most reported crime in the past two months.
In April, 285 cases of theft, 36 cases of robbery and 78 cases of vandalism were reported, compared to 244 cases of theft in May. The most reported crime in 2023 was also theft.
