Another person has been arrested in connection with the theft of 13 million cigarettes from the Hulhumale' port and parts of the stolen containers has been recovered from Thilafushi.
In a message to the media, police said a 52-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday. But his identity was not disclosed.
Police added that parts of the two stolen containers were found in Thilafushi on October 19. Adhadhu obtained a photo which shows the dismantled containers in the industrial island.
Police had earlier arrested two businessmen, Ahmed Arif and Mohamed Waheed, along with senior Customs employee Ziwar Ismail and former Customs officer Muaz Ali.
Arif and Ziwar were remanded in custody for 15 days. Waheed was remanded in custody for 10 days, while Muaz was remanded for five days and by another 10 days when summoned to court later.
Ziwar has been suspended from Customs, while six employees of the Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) have also been suspended as police investigates the elaborate heist.
The illegal shipment worth MVR 100 million in import duties was first seized by the Customs in April. The confiscated cigarettes were stolen while under the Customs lock and supervision of MPL.
The containers with 13 million cigarettes were stolen in the first week of August. The MPL, Customs, Police and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) were unaware of the elaborate heist.
It was exposed only after Home Minister Ali Ihusaan, MPL CEO and Commissioner General of Customs simultaneously received a WhatsApp message from an anonymous Sri Lankan number.
The message warned that the officials would be exposed if they opened the confiscated containers. Ihusaan, accompanied by the police, opened the containers to see the cigarettes replaced with old tyres and a meme.
