The Prosecutor General's Office asked the High Court to formally designate a group in Addu City as an organised criminal gang. It would be the first such designation since the new gang crimes law took effect. "Scoop," also known as "Scoop Kanmathi" or "SKP," is based in Hithadhoo. The PGO is seeking to disband the SKP Sports Club and remove all gang-related signage from Addu City, identifying nine individuals as gang members. Under the law, an organised criminal group is defined as three or more people working together to commit serious crimes or obtain financial benefits through criminal activity.
With effect from January, the Sun Siyam Group decided to pay service charges in Rufiyaa to over 500 resort workers, citing financial strain from the mandatory dollar surrender policy that requires tourism establishments to exchange 20 percent of income or US$ 500 per tourist.
Aasandha expanded coverage for prescription glasses to include private clinics and optical shops, in addition to hospitals. Glasses could only be obtained previously with prescriptions from facilities such as IGMH, ADK and Eye Care. With the change effective from Wednesday, prescriptions from registered optometrists at 18 facilities now qualify for coverage. Optical shops can also register with the health ministry and apply for coverage. The government entered the eyewear business in July with an optical shop at IGMH and increased coverage from MVR 1,000 (US$ 65) to MVR 2,000 every two years.
The housing ministry postponed the opening of applications for flats and land plots from Thursday to Sunday at 9am. The ministry cited preparations for the expected high volume of public inquiries and applications through the digital portal.
Police rescued a Maldivian man held hostage inside an MPL tower apartment in Hulhumalé Phase 2. Four men aged 23 and 24 were taken into custody after police searched the apartment with a court warrant. They are accused of intimidating and stealing money from the victim after holding him inside the apartment.
Marine police rescued 72 people after an MTCC ferry ran aground on Emboodhoo reef. The vessel was travelling to Maafushi when its engine failed around 11:24am. The 72 passengers included 67 tourists, three Maldivians and two foreign crew members. No injuries were reported. Police were working with the vessel's owner to re-float it.
Mohamed Shiyan, 25, was arrested on suspicion of illegal vape sales. Police raided his apartment in Hulhumalé and seized a large amount of nano cartridges, vapes, pods and cash.
Police recorded 67 road accidents across Malé, the Sinamalé bridge, and Hulhumalé highway from January 4 to 10, with 56 incidents occurring in Malé alone. The majority involved motorcycle collisions, including 19 motorcycle-to-motorcycle and 19 motorcycle-to-car crashes, resulting in 66 minor injuries and one serious injury.
Some 50 boys and 16 girls between the ages of 16 and 19 departed for the first round of training under the Maldives National Service. They came from the first batch of students who completed initial training last year. The four-month training program will take place at the MNDF centre in Baa Kihaadhoo, which was repurposed from a technical and vocational education facility donated by the Coastline Foundation.
Briefing the press, the Elections Commission urged the public to submit complaints regarding the voter registry before the deadline of 3pm on Sunday (January 18). A total of 294,937 people are eligible to vote in the April 4 local council elections. Some 678 members for island and city councils along with 678 members for Women's Development Committees will be elected across 225 constituencies. Voting will take place from 8am to 4pm. Polling stations will also be set up in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Applications will open for candidacy papers on Saturday with a deadline of February 1. Despite the digitalisation of applications through an online portal, commissioners assured the public that it has no intention of introducing electronic voting or changing the processes for vote counting and announcing results. The commission is training more than 7,000 election officials across the country.
President Muizzu dissolved the National Centre for Information Technology and established the Maldives Digital Service under the homeland security and technology ministry. The new agency will assume NCIT's responsibilities while serving as the primary body implementing the Maldives 2.0 Roadmap 2025-2028 for digital transformation.
President Muizzu also established the Maldives National Anti-Doping Agency under the sports ministry, to be governed by an independent board responsible for implementing anti-doping measures. The agency was created under an amendment made to the Maldives Sports Act in May last year.
Manta Air was awarded the D1 rating certification by the Civil Aviation Authority, authorising the private airline to "perform specialised Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) services on aircraft structures and components".
