The Criminal Court has sentenced a local man to prison for trespassing into Maafushi Prison.
Two individuals, Ismail Hammad of Fehi Ali, Raa Maduvari, and Ibrahim Jazlan of Caribean, Noonu Manadhoo, were caught trespassing into Maafushi prison grounds to smuggle contraband back in September of 2019.
Prison’s Intelligence had received information that the suspects were attempting to smuggle contraband into the prison on the night that prison officers had initiated an operation to thwart the smugglers. During the operation, the defendants were seen swimming toward Maafushi prison after diving into the sea from a small dinghy spotted in the area. Moreover, they attempted to evade arrest by running away and jumping into the sea nearby and that they were arrested while in the waters.
State submitted several witnesses to corroborate its case and these included prison officers and police officers who had investigated the case. The witnesses testified that several contrabands were found in the bag that belonged to Hammad and that they include phones, chargers, knives, and a saw.
After taking into account the evidence and witness statements, the Criminal Court initially sentenced both defendants to 4 months and 24 days in prison. However, Hammad’s sentence was cut down to 4 months and 6 days considering time served and Jazlan’s sentence was cut down to 4 months and 14 days. The Court later amended Jazlan’s prison sentence to a fine of MVR 53,600 and ordered him to pay the fine within 12 months from the 6th of this month.
