Two people have been arrested from Male’ City in two separate incidents, both of them involving the theft of mangoes from government properties - from the Juvenile Court and from the Maldives National University (MNU)’s Faculty of Health Science (FHS).
One of the people arrested is a 42-year-old man from L. Gan, who was arrested for stealing mangoes from a mango tree in the courtyard of the Juvenile Court building.
He was presented before the Criminal Court for his remand hearing on Saturday.
At the hearing, he admitted to jumping over the boundary wall of the court to pick mangoes. He also told the court that he was caught by security guards, who told him not to repeat it. He said he was caught by police as he left the property after he was confronted by the security.
Court documents show that he has been arrested 63 different times on suspicion of committing crimes, most of them involving theft.
The Criminal Court ordered for him to be held in a custodial jail for seven days.
Criminal Court. (File Photo/Sun/Fayaz Moosa)
The second incident involves a 30-year-old man from Male’ City who is accused of stealing mangoes from a tree in the courtyard of the MNU’s FHS building.
He was presented before the Criminal Court for his remand hearing on Saturday.
The police intercepted the man from outside the FHS building at around 05:25 am on Saturday after he was found carrying a bag filled with mangoes that the police suspected were stolen goods.
When questioned by the police, he admitted that he picked the mangoes from a tree in the courtyard of the FHS building, but said that he did so with permission from a security guard.
The police went to question the guard, but did not find one there.
The suspect told the police that the security guard must have left his post for the Fajr prayer.
Court documents show that he too has a criminal history.
The Criminal Court ordered for him to be held in a custodial jail for seven days.
The remand period of both suspects expires on February 8.