A foreign man has been fined MVR 50,000 for trying to smuggle out a pair of shark fins from the Maldives.

Mohamed Rushan Mohamed Subir, a Sri Lankan national, was charged with attempting to smuggle goods out of the Maldives. The prosecution charged him with attempting to smuggle out the goods from the Maldives.

After pleading guilty to the charges, Rushan said that since his son met with an accident and was undergoing treatment at the hospital, he wanted the case to be concluded at the earliest.

On the opportunity to discuss the quantum of punishment, the state argued that the quantum of punishment against Rushan was between MVR 10,000 - 200,000 or imprisonment for 12 months. During the trial, Rushan sought a fine on him.

Chief Judge Adam Mohamed, while delivering the verdict, said that since the defendant had pleaded guilty to the charges, he was found guilty, and that since the Maldives Customs Act did not specify a situation in which the punishment for the offence against him would rise or decrease, the law gave the court the right to impose any of the two punishments.

The chief judge observed that since Rushan was a Sri Lankan national and his son was being treated at a hospital in Sri Lanka, it was in the best interest of the court to impose a fine rather than keeping him in a jail in the Maldives.

The judge imposed a fine of MVR 50,000 on Rushan for attempting to smuggle out goods from the Maldives and directed him to pay the amount to the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) within a month.