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There are 16 active gangs in the capital Male’ with an increasing number of minors a cause for concern, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mohamed Fayaz has revealed.
Fayaz said the number of gangs was “extremely high” for a small place such as Male’, which is less than two-square kilometres in size.
“We do all the assessments, we know who they are,” he said.
Suspects in gang fights were often released following arrest, he added, leading to revenge attacks that sparked a cycle of violence.
Speaking to Minivan News today, Dr Abdullah Waheed, deputy minister at the home ministry, said the Maldives had a comparatively high number of young people aged between 15 to 24, increasing the likelihood of underage gangs.
He described gang culture as a “global phenomenon”, while various factors contributed specifically to the problem in Male'.
“One study that was done some years back showed out of 100 people who join grade eight, by the time they finish grade ten, roughly 80 per cent of them drop out for various reasons,” he said.
Boys who drop out of school at 16 were “unemployable” and often joined gangs, said Waheed, while the housing situation in the capital exacerbated the problem.
In March, the UN special rapportuer on housing, Raquel Rolnik, said the prevalence of drug abuse and crime was linked to inadequate living space and overcrowding in the capital.
Increasingly, gang members tend to be under 18, said Fayaz, and gangs were “using boys to peddle drugs because the law doesn’t reach them”.
At present, the Maldives does not have juvenile detention facilities.
Galolhu South MP Ahmed Mahlouf told Minivan News today, drugs, unemployment and housing were the main reasons for young people joining gangs.
As former vice-president of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) youth wing, Mahlouf said, he knew the leaders of two local gangs, “Buru” and “Kuda Henveiru”.
He added more young people were involved now and older gang leaders found them difficult to control: “They want the young ones to be arrested but because they are under 18, they won’t be arrested.”
Mahlouf said there was a lack of recreation facilities and the three youth centres in the capital were insufficient.
“If we could open small places, with billiards, darts and get a few of the leaders to run the places and give them responsibility, then the government could monitor them,” he said.
He added the working age should be lowered to 16 so that school leavers would not have to hang around for two years to find employment.
Maafanu North MP Imthiyaz Fahmy (Inthi) of the MDP agreed that gang violence was related to drugs and unemployment.
Inthi said there should be more opportunities for vocational training and higher education.
Legislation was needed to revise the criminal justice procedure and Evidence Act, Inthi added, because existing regulations were not up to international standards.
If amended, the Evidence Act would allow for forensic evidence and video footage to be submitted, he continued, while judges could decide to extend detention of criminal suspects.
Waheed stressed the importance of prevention to tackle the problem of gang violence.
School leavers should have more opportunities, such as vocational training or sports education, to keep them out of gangs.
Further, he said, the government needed to reduce overcrowding in Male’ and solve the housing crisis.
According to the deputy police commissioner, in the past week, five people were stabbed in two consecutive nights.
“We made about eight arrests directly related to these arrests. Four of them were released [because of court orders] within 24 hours,” he said.
One of the main difficulties in securing convictions was failure to provide protection for eye witnesses.
“A lot of witness protection schemes should be implemented and witnesses should not be asked to come to the court,” Fayaz said. “If the suspect knows a person giving evidence, witnesses are in danger.”
Most gang members were no longer hesitant to commit crimes because they were certain of being released, he said.
There have been cases of suspects arrested ten times for violent crimes in one year who could not be convicted.
“Some cases might be in the courts but because of the lack of Evidence Act, we don’t get a conviction and even if we do, there’s no space in the jails again,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference in March following the stabbing of an 18-year old in Male’, Police Commissioner Ahmed Faseeh said the system created repeat offenders when sentences were not enforced.
He added the existing evidence law was seven sentences long and needed to be revised.
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