Sunny Umar, accused of sexually assaulting minors, has been arrested on a plane while trying to flee the country.
Sunny Umar returned to Male' on Monday after fleeing to India when the matter surfaced. The family of the victims had filed a case with the police.
Upon his return, police took him into custody for questioning. But then he was released.
Adhadhu understands that he was re-arrested after boarding a flight to Sri Lanka on Monday night. Reports say police arrested him under a court order, but this has not been confirmed.
In a message to the media, police said, "Sunny Umar has been arrested." They earlier said that an investigation was underway following the allegations.
A family member of the victims told Adhadhu that Sunny Umar had been sexually abusing the children for 10 years. Some of the children have been severely affected mentally.
The Travel Guys, Maldives Halal Travel, Halal Weekly, Talent MV, Island Post and Kavi Pvt Ltd are some of the companies founded by Sunny Umar. He also has interests in several other businesses.
Following the allegations, The Travel Guys Pvt Ltd has now decided to take over Sunny's shares and remove him from the company. The company said the allegations of exploitation and abuse were serious matters.
Sexual crime is one of the biggest problems in the Maldives. So far this year, 239 such cases have been reported to the police. In particular, there are many cases of sexual abuse of children in the Maldives.
The Gender Ministry received 255 cases of child sexual abuse last year. According to the latest statistics released by the Maldives Bureau of Statistics, 264 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in 2023.
Research by UNICEF shows that one in three girls in the Maldives experiences sexual abuse at least once in her lifetime. Fifteen percent of children in the Maldives have been victims of sexual abuse.
