NEW DELHI: The former Vice President of Maldives, Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor, who arrived in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin on a cargo vessel without any valid documents on Thursday, was sent back by the Coast Guard to Maldives – the country of archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Ahmed Adeeb was planning to seek political asylum in India, citing a threat to his life in the Maldives where he faces trials in alleged corruption cases. He had been living under house arrest in the Maldives.
“There are designated entry points through which foreigners are allowed entry into India. The entry is facilitated on the basis of appropriate valid travel documents. In the instant case, since he was not entering India through a designated entry point and did not possess the valid document, he has not been permitted entry into India,” Foreign Minister spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said the day Ahmed Adeeb was found on the vessel off the Tamil Nadu coast.
Ahmed Adeeb, 37, became the youngest vice-president of the island country in 2015. The same year, he was sacked after being arrested in connection with a bomb attack targeting then President Abdullah Yameen. He was released from jail in May after his conviction was overturned, but still faces corruption charges in a separate trial.
According to investigators, Ahmed Adeeb was secured while on board a barge (a flat-bottomed ship normally used in canals and on rivers) named Virgo 9, which had returned to Tuticorin with a crew of nine, including Mr Adeeb. The rest of the crew had valid documents but Ahmed Adeeb’s passport had been confiscated by the Maldives government. (Agencies)
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