Maldives: Police raids ex-president Mohamed Nasheed's family residence

Maldivian police raided ex-president Mohamed Nasheed's family house on Wednesday evening,over investigation into a coup plot, the Maldives Independent reported.

The raid came in right after a criminal court issued a warrant against Nasheed, country's first democratically elected president who was toppled in 2012, for failing to return to the troubled archipelago to complete a jail sentence after receiving medical care in Britain.

The criminal court has meanwhile issued a warrant for Nasheed’s arrest on a charge of misusing state funds, the Maldives Independent said.

Officers spent half an hour at Kenereege in Mal? at around  9 pm local time, Nasheed’s cousin and opposition MP Eva Abdulla told Maldives Independent.

The officers searched all the rooms and bathrooms, but said they did not find any items of interest, she told Maldives Independent.

“This is absolutely unjustified. President Nasheed has been away for a very long time. Only his parents live there now.”

Nasheed has a political refugee status that was granted by the British government in May. 

He travelled to Sri Lanka in August with the other leaders of the  Maldives United Opposition, a broad coalition of opposition parties and former government officials that is seeking to oust President Abdulla Yameen over human rights abuses and charges of corruption, the Maldives Independent said.

The website reports that tensions are high in Mal?. The security forces were on alert and soldiers were seen stationed at the supreme court, the Republic Square and the President’s residence on Tuesday.


?(WION)