Former Maldives Vice President Ahmed Adeeb detained in Thoothukudi for illegally entering India

Former Vice President of Maldives Ahmed Adeeb was detained by Indian authorities in Thoothukudi in southern Tamil Nadu on Thursday after his boat illegally entered the Indian waters. 

He was secured mid-sea by the Coast Guard near Thoothukudi for alleged illegal entry. Police sources said he was trying to enter India to seek political asylum.

Commenting on his detainment, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in Delhi that it was "trying to ascertain the veracity of the reports."

According to a report by The Hindu, the Mongolian-flagged tugboat left the Maldives on July 29 and reached near the Thoothukudi coast around noon.

Adeeb served as the Vice President of Maldives for a little over three months in 2015. He was arrested in October that year in connection with a bomb attack that targeted the then President Abdulla Yameen.

He was later convicted on terrorism and corruption charges and sentenced to 33 years in jail. After Yameen’s defeat in the presidential election last year, his sentence was wiped out by appeal courts citing political influence over his trials, the Maldives Independent reported. 

After three years in prison, he was transferred to house arrest last November, the report said. 

However, the Maldivian Supreme Court imposed a travel ban on Adeeb in June this year as the Prosecutor General’s office filed appeals challenging the rulings that set aside his convictions. 

He was in India in early July for medical reasons and served a 15-day contempt of court sentence after his return to the country. He was freed from house arrest two weeks ago.