Three men arrested on Turkey-Syria border charged with terrorism
Prosecutors are seeking terror charges against three Maldivian men who were arrested on the Turkey-Syria border in February. The three are the first to face prosecution for traveling abroad with the intent of joining a terror group under a new anti-terror law.
22 May 2016, 9:00 AM
Prosecutors are seeking terror charges against three Maldivian men who were arrested on the Turkey-Syria border in February.
The three are the first to face prosecution for traveling abroad with the intent of joining a terror group under a new anti-terror law.
Ahmed Latheef, Ahmed Suhail Moosa and Munawwar Abdulla could be handed a jail term of between 10 and 20 years.
The three men charged today were extradited to the Maldives in March by the Turkish authorities.
A spokesman for the prosecutor general’s office said they are seeking a monicon order or a surveillance order against a fourth man who is linked to the three men.
Mohamed Samee is suspected of trying to leave the Maldives for Syria, too.
A monicon order, issued by the High Court, allows the police to tag suspects and intercept their communications. It also allows the police to control suspects’ financial transactions.
The opposition-aligned station Raajje TV reported that the three were arrested while trying to cross a mud ditch dug between border fences as a buffer to prevent illegal crossings.
The group comprised of five Maldivians: only one managed to cross the border. A fourth man, identified as Anas, remains incarcerated in Turkey, Raajje TV said.
The group travelled to Colombo on February 14, and flew to Turkey via Dubai.
At a UN General Assembly debate on Global Counter Terrorism Strategy in February, the Maldives representative touted the anti-terror legislation and the 2014 Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act as “concrete actions [taken] to curb the stem of foreign terrorist fighters.”
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