Police have requested an Interpol yellow notice over the disappearance of a man from a sandbank on August 30.
Thasleem Mohamed, 43, an employee of the Male' City Council went missing from a sandbank near Kaafu atoll Huvafenfushi island.
In a statement issued today, police said dive teams from the police and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) searched an area of 943,998 square kilometres over three days.
Police said they had interrogated the group that went to the sandbank with Thasleem and a second group of 12 people who had also been visiting the sandbank at the time of Thasleem's disappearance.
Thasleem’s phone and laptop have been seized for analysis as the investigation continues and the two launches that were at the sandbank at the time of Thasleem's disappearance have also been searched.
Police said Thasleem travelled to the sandbank with 25 people and two children at 5:00 pm on August 29. They were on a trip to celebrate a birthday and an engagement party.
Thasleem participated in the trip to make the backdrop for the party and to do some electrical works, police said in the statement.
Photos taken by the group show that Thasleem had been with them on the night of the trip and the morning of August 30, police said.
He was last seen on the sandbank between 7:45 am and 9:00 am on Friday, August 30, police added.
Police said the investigation also revealed that Thasleem had told the group that he wanted to return to Male' and the group arranged for him to leave on Friday morning.
However, the group learned that he was missing and started searching for him after calling his family to see if he had travelled to Male' on another launch.
Police said they are sharing the progress of the investigation with Thasleem's family.
