Malé, Maldives —The President of Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has revealed that the Officers who are investigating the attack on Speaker Mohamed Nasheed on May 6th are currently investigating to uncover the masterminds and financiers of the attack.
There has been a recent social media campaign centered around “Who funded?” the May 6 Attack urging the authorities to find the financiers.
While questions were being asked about the financiers of the attack from the begining, a post by anonymous Twitter user Alex Ahmed (@anedhivehirajje) questioning the origin of funds set off the social media campaign. The tweet further said that and stating that it is unwise to ask the state to investigate the matter.
President Solih revealed that the Police are currently investigating to uncover the masterminds of this attack. Meanwhile, American expert is set to join the investigation, and assist the police in unearthing the financiers.
Police are already aware of what direction to go regarding this and have collected information on it as well. An American expert will be soon joining the team to find out the funders.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih
President Solih stated that the expert from America is already in the Maldives and that he will soon begin assisting the investigation team.
Sources inform that the expert President Solih is speaking of is an expert from the Financial Investigation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of America who will assist the investigation team of the Maldives in finding out how the May 6 Terror Attack was funded.
Along with this, President Solih had recently also appointed a British Special Envoy, Abbaz Faiz to moniter the investigation, prosecution and trial of the terrorist attack. He is required to make sure that all stages of the investigation prosecution and trial of the alleged perpetrators, and any related and necessary inquiries are according to the international best practice and national laws. This is to ensure that the integrity of this investigation.
The statement from President Solih said this while speaking at a news conference held due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the Maldives. While several officers in the investigation team of the attack including the leading officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mohamed Riyaz has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, President Solih assured that the investigation is still progressing at a fast rate.
While the Maldives Police Service has so far arrested multiple suspected extremists from the Capital Malé city and the atolls of Maldives, all four of the main suspects of the attack against Former President and current Speaker Nasheed have tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, along with the police investigation team. Police states that although team members and suspects have Covid-19, the investigation will not stop and will still be carried out until further notice.
After the May 6 terror attack, the police said that there would be a crack down on terrorists and terrorism supporters, including those posting such content on social media and supporting terrorism on media comment sections as well.
The IED explosion went off around 20:20 on 6 May leaving Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed critically injured while he was getting in to his car near his house, G. Kenereege, Malé City. In addition to him, 3 more people were also been reported to be injured from the explosion including the Speaker’s bodyguards and bystanders.
Nasheed was brought in with heavy bleeding, and both internal and external shrapnel injuries. Ball bearings were found in Nasheed’s chest, near the heart. Injuries caused by these projectiles caused life threatening damage to the chest area. Nasheed endured major injury to the fourth rib, with a blade going through a lung. A projectile also went through his intestine with another near his liver.
Speaker Nasheed was treated at the Critical Care Unit of ADK hospital in Malé until yesterday and was airlifted to Germany yesterday for recovery and rehabilitation. Parliament had revealed yesterday that Speaker Nasheed’s medical expenses in Germany is being covered by Honorary Consul of Maldives in Germany, Christian Von Stetten.
