Two business magnate who the police believe funded the theft of two containers of smuggled cigarettes from a seaport in Hulhumale’ have been released from police custody.
The two containers containing 13.6 million sticks of cigarettes smuggled into the Maldives were seized by Maldives Customs Service on April 26, and kept at Hulhumale’ International Port, a facility managed by the Maldives Ports Limited (MPL). The theft of the cigarettes was reported on October 9, and the police made the first arrests in the case on October 15.
Among the first to be arrested were business magnates who the police believe funded the heist – Ahmed Arif (Aattey), the owner of Lotus, and Mohamed Waheed (Dhigali), the owner of Apollo Holdings.
To be updated…