The blackmailers used a Facebook account pretending to be an attractive blonde woman, and reportedly coerced hundreds of Maldivians to record their nude videos and pictures through their webcam and send it to them. After receiving the pictures and videos, they used them to blackmail the persons involved – many of them believed to be national politicians and senior government officials.

Police discovered explicit videos and pictures of hundreds of Maldivians on the hard drives and laptops of 14 people arrested in connection with the crime earlier this week.

”We are still investigating the case, but so far we cannot reveal the identities of any of those involved,” said a police spokesperson. ”We cannot confirm any names, just not yet. We will be revealing more information later.”

Daily newspaper Haveeru interviewed a person who claimed to have seen some of the material, who said that MPs belonging to both the opposition and the ruling party had fallen for the scam, as well as prominent businessmen and “national figures”.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that none of the events reportedly depict “would have taken place inside the President’s office.”

”We don’t have Facebook, MSN or any other social networks on any computer of the President’s Office,” Zuhair said. ”It is nothing to do with the government or the president.”

Zuhair added that “for instance there might be torturers among people who build streets, but that does not mean all the street builders are torturers.”

Meanwhile, the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) has sent a letter to the President’s Office, calling the president to remove government officials involved in the case from their posts ”or if you do not remove them from their posts it will be taken as meaning that you are supporting such activities.”

The DQP called on the government to take action against those involved “as soon as possible.”

Several blogs have speculated on the names of those caught up in the scandal, but police would not confirm the identities of those compromised.