Home Minister of the former administration, and lead investigator of the incident aboard vessel 'Finifen maa', Mr. Umar Naseer says that it is not possible to obtain raw footage of the video showing the presence of fire, as the footage is with Maldives Police Service. The video was taken previously as former President Abdullah Yameen made his way from nearby Hulhule' island to Male' City, followed by an explosion aboard the vessel.

Umar said this, amidst allegations made by former spokesperson to President Yameen, Mr. Ibrahim Muaz Ali. Muaz has claimed that while the footage viewed by to the press in the President's office following the explosion aboard 'Finifen maa' speedboat showed the presence of fire, it is an edited version of the actual raw footage.

Last night, local channel Sangu TV broadcast a video claiming that it is the unedited raw footage shot from a camera belonging to the office of the then President, President Abdullah Yameen. While the previous video shown to press by the President's office showed fire following the explosion, the video broadcast by Sangu TV shows no signs of fire.

In an interview given to One Online, Mr. Umar Naseer said "The video is a raw file obtained as evidence, which was part of an investigation. The video is currently in the assigned store room of Maldives Police Service after going through all procedures of chain- of-custody"

"The store room is specialized for keeping evidence and has high ISO-certified security. Removing or placing anything in that room is also a high security procedure. No one person is given the chance to remove or place anything that room" Umar said.

The former Home Minister said that the evidence under Police custody cannot be moved around without undergoing a specialized procedure and that it can only be done through court-ordered mandate. He said that even in the case where it is required by a court of law there is high security surrounding the removal and placement of evidence in the room.

"The stories surrounding the 'raw file' is therefore fake. The incident is still under investigation. There is no way that the raw file can be leaked. Even Maldivian Police are more professional than that" Umar said.