A husband and wife have been detained on suspicion of blackmailing and stealing money from people after kidnapping them and taking their nude videos.

The suspects were arrested on May 26. The husband was remanded for 15 days and the wife was remanded for 10 days.

After the woman's remand expired, the Criminal Court ordered her detention yesterday for a further 15 days.

They are accused of intimidation, kidnapping, creation of pornography, and theft.

According to the court order, the woman lived in a house in the Henveiru ward of Male'. She is 39 years of age. The husband is aged 40.

Her husband was also in custody, police said at the remand hearing, the court order noted. The detention order for the husband is not available yet.

According to the court order, police alleged the involvement of other people in committing the crimes with the couple. The crimes were committed by a group of people formed for the purpose, police alleged.

Several cases of people lured into apartments on false pretences, threatened and robbed have come to light in recent days.

On Monday, a group of people who took victims to a Hiya flat in the guise of renting the apartment and then attempted to rob them were found and handed over to the police.

Prior to that, a man and a woman who resided in a Hiya apartment were also arrested last Friday. They were also accused of kidnapping and attempted robbery.

The robbery of people who were lured to an apartment in a tower in Hulhumale' Phase Two was reported to the police in late May, police said at the time. Such incidents have become very common and many cases have been reported to the police over recent months, residents of Hiya flats told Adhadhu.