Union: Foreign soldiers forced fishermen to destroy evidence of storming

Bodu Kanneli Masveringe Union (BKMU), on Thursday, reported that the armed foreign soldiers who stormed a local fishing vessel attempted to destroy evidence of the storming from the phones of the fishermen aboard the boat.

BKMU, on Wednesday. said armed foreign soldiers had stormed three fishing vessels while fishing in Maldivian territories. They identified the three vessels as ‘Asuruma-3’, ‘Neru-7’ and ‘Maahoara-3’.

BKMU’s President Hussain Nasheed told Sun on Thursday that it was the crew aboard ‘Maahora-3’ who were forced to delete pictures and videos that they took at the time of the incident.

However, Nasheed said the crew aboard ‘Asuruma-3’ were not forced to follow the suit.

MNDF, in an earlier statement, said they were informed that the fishing boat was inside the Maldives Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) when a boarding team from a foreign military ship stormed the boat on Wednesday. They did not disclose the nationality of the soldiers.

Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam has expressed concern over the matter. He detailed that the soldiers stormed 'Asuruma-3' while it was fishing 72 miles off HA. Thuraakanu. 

BKMU said the soldiers exited the vehicles after two hours.