The four suspects arrested in connection with the robbery of a cash briefcase from bank staff at the Velana International Airport (VIA) have been denied the right to a defence attorney.

The suspects have been identified as Mazin Moosa, 25, Ahmed Raihan Naeem, 20, Ibrahim Anoof, 24 and Hussain Shahid, 30. They were all remanded in custody for five days.

But their legal team said the police denied them the right to a defence attorney ahead of the remand hearings.

The legal team said police delayed the appointment of lawyers and transferred the suspects to other locations before informing them that their remand had been extended by five days.

The briefcase had more than USD 100,000. Bank of Maldives (BML) staff were carrying it without police security inside VIA.

The robbers fled the airport on a speedboat. Police arrested the suspected robbers and seized their vessel yesterday.

This is the second such incident in recent days.

Earlier, police discovered that 13 million cigarettes in two containers were stolen from the Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) harbour in Hulhumale'.