100 terrorists in Maldives

Reuters has cited Maldivian intelligence officers and Western officials and said that about 100 terrorists reside in the Maldives.

An article by C. Bryson Hull entitled ‘Graft, politics, militant Islam shake Indian Ocean island paradise’ says, “The Maldivian government has under watch about 100 people who have links to Al-Qaeda or other militant groups, or who trained in camps in Pakistan of Afghanistan, two Maldivian intelligence officials told Reuters.”

The article quotes a Maldivian intelligence official saying on condition of anonymity, “We do have a somewhat good understanding of what could be a violent extremist, who has trained in terrorist camps with terrorist groups. We do understand this problem is huge and if we don’t tackle it, it is going to be a big problem in the future.”

The article says that even though Maldives is not on the top of Western intelligences’ radars, it has been confirmed by four diplomats from the United Stated and Europe that Maldivian militants were being monitored.

“There are some extremely nasty people on some of the outer atolls, where you wouldn’t want to go,” Reuters quoted an American diplomat saying.

Reuters also said that sharing of intelligence is challenging in the Maldives due to the geographic isolation of the islands.

“Surveillance is very difficult because on an island, if you send anyone in, they can easily be spotted.”