Vice President of the People’s National Congress (PNC), Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik, has said that the people needs to be informed as to why the officers of the Maldives Police Service and the Maldives National Defence Force are armed in Male’ City and Hulhumale’.

Speaking at a PNC press conference last night, Nihan said that members of the public are calling to ask why police and MNDF are armed in Male’ and Hulhumale’. He said that the relevant authorities are not sharing information on that matter and called to them to inform the people whether there’s a threat or not.

Following the speculation on social media regarding a possible attack, Maldives Police Service issued a statement saying that training exercises by the police and MNDF are not related to a specific threat.

Police have advised not to spread information from unreliable and unconfirmed sources on social media. And for the safety of the public, any suspicious activity should be immediately reported to the Police hotline 119 or the hotline for the National Counter Terrorism Center at 1615.