Three individuals arrested over the disappearance of two containers of cigarettes from the Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) harbor have been released. Those freed are Mohamed Waheed, owner of Apollo; Ahmed Arif, owner of Lotus; and Hassan Abdul Rahman, who was suspected of overseeing the Thilafushi site where the containers were taken.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Criminal Court approved their conditional release. Waheed and Arif were released due to a lack of evidence linking them to the theft, while Hassan Abdul Rahman was released as he was no longer considered a suspect.

The Prosecutor General’s Office added that the remand of the remaining suspects will not be altered, noting that they are believed to have actively participated in the robbery. Some are state employees suspected of abusing their official positions.

Eleven people were arrested in total, and all cases have now been forwarded for prosecution. The theft was reported on October 9 after 1,360 cases of cigarettes – stored in two 40-foot containers – were found missing from MPL’s Hulhumalé International Terminal. The haul amounts to 13.6 million cigarette sticks, valued at more than MVR 100 million in import duty.