Police seize security camera footage from Adeeb’s residences

In the first direct move against Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, police have seized CCTV footage from two of his residences in Malé, as part of an inquiry into the alleged assassination attempt on President Abdulla Yameen.

Police officers entered the home of Adeeb’s second wife, Humashige in Malé’s Galolhu ward, at midnight on Thursday to confiscate footage from the security cameras at the building’s entrance.

At the time, dozens of military officers in riot gear cordoned off the restricted green zone, which encompasses the police and military headquarters and the president’s office.

Police officers were stationed outside Adeeb’s residence at Humashige till morning, according to reporters.

The night before, police had seized similar footage from Rehendhi flats, where Adeeb conducts his meetings.

Adeeb has delayed his arrival in Malé from China, and is currently in Singapore, according to multiple credible sources.

Home Minister Umar Naseer has said that the explosion on Yameen’s boat on September 28 was caused by a bomb targeting the president. Sri Lankan forensic experts have confirmed that the blast was caused by an explosive device, he said.

Forensic experts from the US, Australia, India and Saudi Arabia have not shared their findings with the government yet.

Yameen has also stripped Adeeb of the tourism portfolio and the co-chairship of the cabinet’s economic and youth council.

Commissioner of Police Hussein Waheed and parliament’s Majority Leader Ahmed Nihan, both seen as Adeeb’s allies, abruptly left the Maldives on Tuesday night.

Local media report that police had also confiscated the CCTV footage at the entrance of Moonlit Villa, where Nihan keeps an apartment.

A police spokesman declined to comment on the specific locations where CCTV footage had been seized from, but said the police will seize CCTV footage from any location required.

The MNDF was not available for comment on the deployment of soldiers in Malé last night.

The Prosecutor General Muhthaz Muhsin and Auditor General Hassan Ziyath are also out of the country on unannounced trips.

Three soldiers have been arrested over the blast. Adeeb’s bodyguard Ahmed Amir remains under administrative detention at the military barracks. Colonel Ahmed ‘Papa’ Fayaz, the head of the unit of military bodyguards, is also being held at the military headquarters.

Defence Minister Moosa Ali Jaleel was sacked.

Abdulla Ziyath, the managing director of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), is also under fire. His home and the offices of MMPRC were raided and he has been summoned for questions to the police headquarters thrice.

The police are reportedly investigating the MMPRC’s illegal import of a fireworks shipment.