Two individuals have been sentenced to jail for trespassing into Maafushi Prison.
The two were caught trespassing into prison grounds back in September of 2019 and had been identified as Ismail Hammad of Fehi Ali, Raa Maduvari, and Ibrahim Jazlan of Caribean, Noonu Manadhoo.
The two were convicted of entering a prohibited property.
The sentencing said that prison intelligence had received information that suspects were attempting to smuggle contraband into the prison on that night and that prison officers had initiated an operation to thwart the smugglers.
During the operation, the defendants were seen swimming toward Maafushi prison after diving into the sea from a small dinghy spotted in the area.
The two were caught while attempting to trespass into prison grounds. It was revealed that when authorities had spotted the two, they had attempted to evade arrest by running away and jumping into the sea nearby and that they were arrested while in the waters.
The State had submitted several witnesses to corroborate its case and these included prison officers and police officers who had investigated the case.
The witnesses had said that several contrabands were found in the bag that belonged to Hammad and that they include phones, chargers, knives, and a saw.
After taking into account the evidence and witness statements, the Criminal Court sentenced both defendants to 4 months and 24 days in jail.
But Hammad's sentence was cut down to 4 months and 6 days considering time served and Jazlan's sentence was cut down to 4 months and 14 days.
The Court later changed Jazlan's jail sentence to a fine of MVR 53,600 and ordered him to pay the fine within 12 months from the 6th of this month.
