Parole Revoked for Addu Drug Kingpin, Parole Board Members Removed

Addu drug kingpin Abdulla Ibrahim has been returned to prison, and all nine members of the Parole Board have been dismissed following his unlawful release on conditional parole, Minister of Homeland Security, Labour and Technology Ali Ihusaan announced today.

Speaking at a press conference at the President’s Office, Minister Ihusaan confirmed that an emergency review declared the decision to grant Abdulla Ibrahim conditional release illegal. The decision has since been officially revoked, and Abdulla Ibrahim was immediately taken back into prison custody.

The Maldives Correctional Service had initially released Abdulla Ibrahim on 1 October under standard parole framework provisions.

Under the Prisons and Parole Act, inmates become eligible for parole upon fulfilling specific conditions, including serving a required portion of their sentence, demonstrating good conduct, undergoing rehabilitation, and posing no threat to public safety.

The Prosecutor General’s Office originally filed two charges against Abdulla Ibrahim, carrying a combined maximum penalty of 50 years in prison (25 years per charge). Following a plea deal in court, his sentence was halved to 25 years alongside an MVR 100,000 fine. Deducting time spent in pre-trial detention set his remaining sentence at 21 years.

However, under Article 131 of the Prisons and Parole Act, parole eligibility for major drug offences was calculated based on serving half of the single longest sentence componentm equating to 6.25 years rather than the aggregate total sentence. Having remained in continuous custody since his initial arrest in October 2020, Ibrahim had completed the required 6.5 years of detention, which the board relied upon to grant his release.

Under current statutory rules, serving half of the maximum sentence component is required for drug cases involving:

• More than 4 grams of diamorphine (heroin);
• More than 14 grams of cannabis, cannabis mixture, or cannabis resin; or
• More than 1 gram of any other controlled substance.

Abdulla Ibrahim was intercepted at sea during a major police operation off Addu Atoll in October 2020 while carrying 61 kilograms of diamorphine and 17.97 kilograms of methamphetamine. Seventeen other individuals were arrested alongside him.

During the intercept, Abdulla Ibrahim attempted to flee in a dinghy and dumped sacks containing the narcotics into the sea. Police officers jumped into the water, retrieved the drugs, and apprehended him.

According to police records, Abdulla Ibrahim had been arrested on eight prior occasions in connection with drug offences, as well as a previous arrest linked to a gang rape case.

When arrested in mid-2019 for a separate drug case involving narcotics carried in backpacks, he was acquitted after denying involvement, claiming he was merely providing boat transport. On that occasion, his network employed a known tactic where a co-defendant took sole responsibility for the illicit drugs during the remand hearing to shield the rest of the group from prosecution.