Maldives Police Service (MPS) says that there was no connection between the murder of writer Yameen Rasheed and disappearance of journalist Ahmed Rilwan.
Speaking in a press conference Superintendent of Police Ahmed Shameem said that the investigation had proven that there was no correlation between the two cases.
Police said they had used zero tolerance in investigating the case. They further said that any obstruction during the investigation had been addressed.
'The investigation into the murder of Yameen Rasheed was carried out from various parts of the Maldives, with many officers in stationed in those places. This shows the level of importance over the investigation. Police had carried out many endeavors to find out the suspects,' Shameem said.
Police further said the investigation had proved that Yameen Rasheed's murder had no political connotations but rather that it was religiously motivated. The suspects all had confessed they did so as Yameen had insulted Islam. Police had attested that the eight suspects had little knowledge of Islam.
Police added that over 1,850 hours of video footage was analyzed and information on 40,000 individuals.
Yameen Rasheed, the self-styled disobedient writer, was one of the most vocal advocates for searching for his friend missing journalist Ahmed Rilwan. He was murdered in the early hours of April 23rd.
