Additional arrest made in Western Union robbery

Police has made an additional arrest in connection with the robbery which took place at the Western Union money transfer center in Male’ on October 2.

Police media official reported that the additional suspect, a 20-year-old man was arrested in connection with the robbery on November 20, and has been remanded to police custody for seven days.

Police already has a suspect under arrest - Ali Shaneez from G. A. Kondey, whose remand period has been increased four times by Criminal Court.

Shaneez’s appeal of his remand was denied by High Court.

The exact amount of money stolen in the robbery is unknown; but police has reported that MVR 1,125,590 and USD 321,603 in stolen money had been retrieved and returned back to Western Union on October 3.

The robbery was perpetrated by a group of masked individuals who entered the Western Union money transfer center in midnight under a false pretense by impersonating officials from the telecom company, Dhiraagu.

The staff were then threatened with a knife and bound.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing the masked robbers rush into H. Thaalhafilige before making their escape.

It is unclear how many bags of cash the robbers had fled with, but one bag was found in the stairwell of H. Thaalhafili, with cash found lying on the ground.