Six murders in 2017 despite overall drop in crime

Six people were brutally killed in the Maldives in 2017 despite a low rate of crime compared to the previous year, police statistics have shown.

According to the stats, 12,745 cases were reported last year in comparison to the 13,580 cases reported in 2016.

Theft was the most reported crime in 2017, at 3,503 incidents, while the figure was at 3,617 in 2016. Other crimes such as drugs and traffic accidents also dropped from 2,378 and 2,242 in 2016 to 2,038 and 2105 in 2017.

Despite an overall drop in crimes, the murder statistics remained the same at six in the past two years.

In 2016, Ahmed Irusham Hilmy and Fathir Mohamed were killed in an apparent feud between two gangs in capital Malé city. Nashid Moosa, Ali Abdulla, Fathimath Shaiha and Hawwa Zuha were also murdered in 2016.

The murder of prominent blogger and social media activist Yameen Rasheed shocked the country in 2017 while the killing of Mohamed Anas was declared as a case of mistaken identity and Nadeem Abdul Raheem was murdered as part of a revenge killing.

Haris Abdul Ghafoor, Moosa Ahmed and Ismail Umar were also killed in 2017.