PG seeks appeal for acquitted suspect in 119-kilo drugs case

Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) on Tuesday said, it has decided to appeal the acquitted suspect in a drug bust worth 119 kilograms of substances in 2021.

State pressed diamorphine trafficking charges in the case against Ali Zubair (Guleynoorammaage, GDh. Hoandedhdhoo), Ahmed Sunain (Irumatheege, GDh. Hoandedhdhoo), and Ahmed Mujahid (Allora, GDh. Hoandedhdhoo).

Only Zubair was convicted in the case, which ended on March 20^th, 2024 at the Criminal Court; and was sentenced life imprisonment with a fine of MVR 100,000. He will be serving 22 years, eight months and 22 days in jail after deducting his remand period.

The remaining two suspects were acquitted in the case over the lack of evidence sufficient for a conviction; and the prosecution had failed to prove their guilt beyond any reasonable doubt during trial.

PG said it is now seeking to appeal the case of Sunain, while it said the possibility of overturning Criminal Court verdict on the other acquitted suspect was unlikely and was the reason why the office had not sought an appeal against him.

Appeal period in the case will expire on Wednesday next week. PG said it would submit the appeal before the period expired.

Police statistics showed 802 drug-related cases reported to the authority so far in 2024.