Former Home Minister Umar Naseer has revealed that the 1988 coup conspirator, Abdulla Latheef once fled before the police arrived, after they received intel that Luthufee was with Kerafa Naseem at the Nawaloka Hospital in Sri Lanka.

Umar made the revelation in a long Facebook post, posted to his page which details the works done to capture the escaped fugitive during his tenure as the Home Minister. In his post, Umar noted that the government had tried numerous things to locate and capture Luthufee.

As such, he highlighted the meeting with Sri Lankan Minister of Law and Order during which the topic of Luthufee was put on agenda. This meeting, according to Umar resulted in a formal request of assistance from the government of Sri Lanka in capturing Luthufee.

In addition to this, discussions regarding finding the escaped fugitive was held with the Sri Lankan Home Minister during the SAARC meeting of Home Ministers held in Nepal, as well as with the Sri Lankan Chief of Police during another meeting.

Umar also revealed that a team of undercover police officers had carried out a month long operation in Nugegoda, Sri Lanka after they received information that Luthufee was living there.

He further added that Luthufee presented himself voluntarily to the Maldivian Embassy in Sri Lanka in an attempt to hide from the Sri Lankan Police. This, he explained, was because of the works that were carried out by the government of President Abdulla Yameen to capture Luthufee.

These also includes a reward of MVR 75,000 to anyone who comes forward with credible information on the fugitive which would assist in his capture. The reward amount was later bumped up to USD 10,000 and the details of this were shared with the Sri Lankan police.

Umar asserted that this was the reason why Luthufee has had to flee and hide in the embassy and noted that the Police and public in Sri Lanka has his description and photographs.