Government to halt dismantling gang huts, says President Yameen

The process has been halted “until a solution could be found after studying the whole problem,” Yameen said, adding that the efforts were undertaken with “good intentions”.

“However, we believe that [dismantling huts] alone would not solve the problem,” he said.

The president’s comments came after Home Minister Umar Naseer – speaking at a separate event – had suggested there were around 30 gangs in Malé, describing 13 of these as “dangerous” criminal organisations.