Police Officer Sentenced To Life In Heroin Smuggling Case

Corporal Manaaru Mohamed Shareef, a police officer in the Drugs Enforcement Unit (DEU), was on Sunday sentenced to life for drug dealing and corruption over a 2.1 kilo heroin haul last November.

Manaaru, a police officer for eight years, had confessed to the offence whilst in police custody, but later withdrew his confession, alleging it was forced.

Manaaru is the seventh man to receive a life sentence in the case, in which Pakistani citizen Azmath Khan smuggled the narcotics into the Maldives by air.

Khan was caught by police on 15 November, but released, and his movements monitored by police in a sting operation to catch the other suspects.

Judge Ali Rasheed ruled Sunday that Manaaru was guilty of drugs trafficking, which carries a 25-year sentence.

He was also convicted of misusing his position, which carries a one-year sentence, and withholding information from authorities, which carries another year.

The court found that during the November investigation, Manaaru had travelled to the hotel where Azmath Khan was staying, to check whether police were carrying out operations there.

He then leaked information about DEU activities to suspects Ibrahim Habeeb and Abdul Hameed Abdul Samad, the court found.

Manaaru was taken into custody over the case in November 2007, but police waited two weeks before announcing his arrest.