Maldives Police Service has said that the two officers named to have obstructed the investigation into the death of Minivan News journalist, Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, were relieved from duties and later reinstated by the former government.

Today, police said that they two officers in question were relieved from duties without pay on 13 July 207 s they were being investigated by the Police Professional Standards Command.

They were reinstated on 7 November 2018. And the Professional Standards Command is continuing their investigation.

Police Media said that the Commissioner of Police then was Hamdhoon Rasheed and the previous government was in power before the new President was sworn into office on 17 November 2018.

The report from the Presidential Commission said that the two officers have been listening to Rilwan’s phone calls from 24 April to 21 July 2014. And the two met with then Controller of Immigration, Hassan Ali to forge a passport to show that Rilwan went to Syria to join the conflict and died there.

And so, on Thursday, the Attorney General, Ibrahim Riffath asked the police to acquire a warrant for their arrest.

Following the report, the former Home Minister, Umar Naseer said that the two police officers were discharged from police after they attempted to forge Rilwan’s passport. In a Facebook post, Umar said that the Attorney General is looking to arrest two officers that were dismissed during the previous administration.

Umar said that after the officers they lost their jobs at the police, it was during the current administration that reinstated them after it was ruled that they were dismissed unfairly.

Although the Attorney General had ordered the arrest, the officers were not arrested. The police said that the Commission on deaths and disappearances does not believe there was a basis for an arrest.

Current Commissioner of Police, Mohamed Hameed later tweeted that if the officers are to be arrested, that power lies with the commission formed by the President to investigate that case.