Kuala Lumpur : A senior Maldivian diplomat and four others Maldivians have been arrested and deported from Malaysia in connection with last month’s attempted assassination of Maldives president Abdulla Yameen, police said here.
The 47-year-old investment counsellor was nabbed by a team of Malaysia’s Special Branch’s Counter-Terrorism Division operatives at a condominium here. Four other Maldivians, two men and two women, were also apprehended there. Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said the man was suspected to be involved with the assassination plot, involving a bomb which was set off on board a speedboat carrying Yameen near Male on September 28.
“The suspect is a 47-year-old Maldivian man, who is also the country’s investment counsellor,” the police chief said. Khalid said the suspects were arrested under the Immigration Act, and were deported to the Maldives today for further action by the country’s authorities.
In the attack, Yameen was unhurt, while his wife and two aides sustained minor injuries from the blast. Maldives Vice President Ahmed Adeeb was also arrested last week over the alleged attempt to assassinate Yameen, the Maldives government said.
