Police says 31 gangs with 700 gangsters in the southern atolls

Maldives Police Service said that thirty-one gangs with over 700 members are operating in the atolls south of the capital, Male’ city.

Police revealed the numbers during one of their presentations at the “Viyavethi Rajje” conference commenced yesterday in L. Gan. Police said that amongst the 31 gangs, only 20 gangs engage in criminal activity.

Police said that most of these gangs operated in the second most populated atoll, Addu City, with 13 operating gangs of which 9 engaged in criminal activities. Additionally, Police said that Fuvahmulah City has 8 gangs of which 3 gangs actively engaged in criminal activities.

The police reported that one gang operated in GDh. Thinadhoo, one gang in GA. Vilingili, two gangs in Th. Thimarafushi and five gangs operated in L. Gan.

Furthermore, the police said that these gangs had over 700 gangsters; Addu gangs with 250, Fuvahmulah gangs with 160, GDh. Atoll with 223, GA. Atoll with 112, Dh. Atoll with 15 and Th. Atoll with 103. The police also said that over 100 members of these gangs consisted if underage kids.

The police have reported on gang operations on multiple occasions, however, they have received criticism over their failure to end gang violence and other gang related crimes.