Gayoom forced to leave without military bodyguards
The former president’s military bodyguards were prevented from accompanying him on a private visit to India, delaying his flight by an hour after the security personnel were forced to remove their luggage.
09 Mar 2017, 9:00 AM
Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s military bodyguards were prevented from accompanying him on a private visit to India on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after he supported a no-confidence motion against the parliament’s speaker.
Abdul Aleem, secretary-general of Gayoom’s faction of the Progressive Party of Maldives, told the Maldives Independent that the Maldives National Defence Force informed the former president’s secretariat just before Gayoom and his wife left for the airport that the two bodyguards cannot leave with them.
“Bodyguards and the Gayooms check in in advance, so the luggage was already on the flight. They had to delay the flight for an hour to offload,” he said.
The MNDF spokesman declined to comment citing internal policies not to speak to the media regarding security matters.
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