Addu City, Maldives – The crew members of the “Faskuri” boat, which was hijacked while out catching bait fish near Vadinolhu of Laamu Atoll has have said that delays in investigation are a threat to all local fishermen.
On the night of October 26, a fishing vessel named Faskuri was hijacked by a group of men who were armed with sharp weapons. Speaking to local media outlet ‘adduLIVE’, the crew reported that on Monday morning, that a group of intruders came on to the boat carrying knives and swords. After the hijackers demanded the crew members to show them the way to the captain, the hijackers had threatened the captain with a knife and ordered the boat, which was near the Vadinolhi area of Laamu Atoll at the time, to be turned around and to enter the harbor of Gan island of the Laamu atoll.
As the fishermen and their families are traumatized due to the events, the crew members stated that “the delay in the investigation by the authorities is a threat for all the fishermen in Maldives and have called on to investigate this matter as soon as possible and to give the strictest punishment to the hijackers who entered the boat with sharp weapons.”
The 22 crews members of the boat stated that attacking fishermen with sharp weapons and hijacking the boat was one of the most inhumane acts that happened to a fishing vessel in the history of Maldives. They further stated that the statement given by the owner of Faskuri, Idhurees Hussain in which he said that the intruders did not spread fear and got ahold of the boat with sharp objects, is false. The crew members also stated that the statement of Idhurees saying he helped the crew get back to their homeland, Addu City, was an absolute lie as well.
While the crew members claim that they had contacted the Police, Idhurees Hussain also claims that he had notified of his impending actions to the Police in a statement he gave to a local news agency. However, Police claim that they were notified of the matter via Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF). and that that was the reason why Police attended the scene at L. Gan harbor. However, despite the events, Police initially only took the weapons into their custody and let all involved persons go.
Since then, however, Police have arrested a total of sixteen people from Laamu Atoll regarding the hijacking, out of which nine have been released by court without being held in remand.
