Stolen speedboat found in Hulhumale

A speedboat reported stolen from a docking area in Male' Friday evening has been found in Hulhumale’ lagoon.

The Gulf Craft speedboat went missing around 7:30 p.m. while docked at the harbour area near Maafannu stadium in Male’, and was spotted by locals near the Tsunami Jetty in Hulhumale' this morning, police said.

Mohamed Shareef, a manager at The Hawks company which owns the speedboat told Sun Online that one of the crewmen saw the boat cruise down the docking area, soon after the boat returned from a trip around sunset on Friday evening.

“A crew saw the boat leave and called the captain to say they had left him behind. Captain told him that it wasn’t him and called the police. We believe that the theft was well planned. We think they wanted to commit some atrocity, and abandoned the boat when they realized it had been reported to the police,” said Shareef.

The crew had been careless and left the key in the boat's engine, Shareef said. The Hawks have a number of speedboats docked in the same area in Male’.

The 4-year-old boat has a value of approximately MVR 1.5 million. The owners are currently trying to assess the boat for damages. No arrests have been made in relation to the incident and police are investigating the case. Speedboat theft is rare in the Maldives.