M’sian police nab Maldive presidential assassination plot suspects
KUALA LUMPUR: Federal police arrested a Maldivian diplomat on Wednesday in connection with the attempted assassination of Maldives president Abdulla Yameen last month.
The 47-year-old Investment Counselor was nabbed by a team of Special Branch's Counter-Terrorism Division (SB-CTD) operatives at a condominium here.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the man was suspected to be involved with the assassination plot, involving a bomb which was set off onboard a speedboat carrying Yameen near Male on Sept 28.
"On Oct 28, SB-CTD launched a special operation in Kuala Lumpur and arrested a foreigner who is suspected to be involved in a plot to assassinate the president of Maldives on Sept 28.
"The suspect is a 47-year-old Maldivian man, who is also the country's Investment Counselor.
"He was arrested in a condominium together with four other Maldivians - two men and two women, aged between 28 and 38," he said in a statement received from federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman earlier today.
Khalid said the suspects were arrested under the Immigration Act, and had been deported to Maldives earlier today for further action by the country's authorities.
He said the special operation's success was the result of close cooperation between SB-CTD and Maldives authorities.
In the attack, Yameen was unhurt, while his wife and two aides sustained minor injuries from the blast.
On Oct 6, Reuters reported Minister in the President's Office Mohamed Hussain Shareef saying that the explosion was an assassination attempt.
Investigations into the incident resulted in Maldivian vice-president Ahmed Adheeb’s arrest on Oct 24.
On the same day, Maldivian Home Minister Umar Naseer tweeted that Adheeb was arrested under the charge of high treason.
