Maldivian authorities yesterday arrested Vice President Ahmed Adeeb over an alleged plot to assassinate President Abdulla Yameen, who escaped death after his boat was hit by a bomb last month, the home minister said.
“VP Adheeb under arrest and held in Dhoonidhoo Detention [prison island],” Maldivian Home Minister Umar Naseer said on Twitter, using a different spelling of the vice president’s name. “Charges: high treason.”
Adeeb, 33, was arrested at the Maldives’ main international airport at around noon as he returned home from Singapore.
Maldivian police confirmed his detention was linked to the investigation into the Sept. 28 blast aboard Yameen’s speed boat.
“Vice president Ahmed Adeeb has been arrested under a court warrant for the investigation into the explosion aboard the presidential speedboat,” Maldivian police said on Twitter and an official Web site.
Yameen appointed Adeeb as his deputy three months ago after impeaching his original running mate, Mohamed Jameel, on charges of treason.
The attack on the president’s speedboat occurred as he was about to disembark at the capital island, Male, after returning from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
The Maldivian leader was unhurt in the blast, but his wife and two others suffered minor injuries.
Hours before the dramatic arrest the president sacked his police chief, Hussain Waheed, the latest in a series of firings seen by some as a purge of individuals whose loyalties may be in doubt.
Maldivian Defense Minister Moosa Ali Jaleel was sacked 10 days ago, while on Thursday, Yameen also fired his main government spokesman, Mohamed Shareef, a minister in his government.
Shareef, who flew to nearby Sri Lanka soon after the Sept. 28 blast, said the explosion might have been a mechanical issue, but the authorities later declared it to be an assassination attempt.
Maldivian authorities have also arrested two security personnel who had access to Yameen’s boa,t but have yet to disclose what caused the explosion. The Maldives has seen its image as a peaceful holiday destination for well-heeled honeymooners dented by political turmoil since the toppling of the nation’s first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Nasheed, in February 2012.
Yameen, who came to power following a highly controversial election, jailed Nasheed for 13 years in March and faces international censure over his crackdown on dissent.
A UN panel last month asked him to free Nasheed and pay him compensation for his wrongful incarceration, a demand rejected by Yameen.
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