Criminal Court has ordered 11 of the 13 Officers of Maldives Correctional Service arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs and phones into the prison to be remanded in judicial custody until trial ends.

During the raid, 13 corrections officers were arrested, of whom 11 were remanded in judicial custody, while the other two were remanded in police custody for five days.

A special operation was conducted at Maafushi Prison on Thursday night following a tip-off that correctional service personnel were involved in dropping drugs and phones into the prison.

Addressing a press conference to inform about the operation, Assistant Commissioner of Police Abdulla Shareef said that 18 junior level officers of corrections were involved in the incident and MVR 73 million had been deposited in their accounts, and MVR 24 million had been deposited in the account of one of them in a year.

Shareef said that the money was deposited in the accounts of the officers from the accounts of those under trials as well as by various criminal agencies in the city.