A 17 year-old boy was  stabbed by a group of people near a garage in the Galolhu district of Male’ late yesterday afternoon, before sunset.

According to Police Sub-inspector Ahmed Shiyam  the boy was stabbed twice,  in the arm and shoulders, and was treated at Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

”Due to a rise in gang activity yesterday Maldives Police Services launched a special operation to check people and several areas,” Shiyam said. ”Police were seeking weapons and objects that could potentially be used as weapons.”

Recently another 17 year-old boy was stabbed to death by a group of men during an apparent gang fight.

The boy was stabbed in the leg as he was climbing onto a truck near the Social Centre in Maafannu, and bled to death despite undergoing transfusions at IGMH.

Police statistics for the first six days of Ramadan reveal that 225 criminal cases were recorded. There were 23 cases of assault, 61 cases of theft, three robberies, 22 drug-related cases, one sexual offence, 39 traffic-related cases, three cases of domestic violence, 21 cases of forgery, nine cases of vandalism, three cases of bounced cheques, four cases of embezzlement, 20 cases of lost items and 36 in the category ‘other’.

Comparative statistics between the number of crimes committed in the first three days of Ramadan this year and last year show that a decrease in crime rate in the first three days of Ramadan.