Dozen arrested for eating during fasting hours

A dozen people were arrested for eating during fasting hours in the first 15 days of Ramadan.

According to crime statistics released by police on Saturday, 19 cases of people eating during the day were reported in the fast half of the holy month.

The 12 people taken into custody included nine from the capital Malé and three from elsewhere in the country.

The local population of the Maldives is ostensibly 100 percent Sunni Muslim. Fasting from dawn to dusk during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith and eating before sunset is a criminal offence in the country.

Several people were prosecuted in recent years for consumption of food without a reasonable excuse. Most defendants were fined after they were found guilty based on a confession or the testimony of eye witnesses.

In Ramadan 2013, two people a day were arrested on average for eating or smoking during daylight hours.

Of the 395 people arrested during the first 15 days of Ramadan this year, 90 were arrested for theft, 169 for drug abuse, and eight people were arrested for sexual harassment.