Former Maldivian vice-president Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor

MADURAI: Former Maldivian vice-president Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor, who came to India on board a tugboat on Thursday morning , was sent back to his country in the early hours of Saturday.

According to police sources, the nine crew members of the tugboat — Virgo 9 — were also handed over to the Maldives security personnel along with Abdul Adeeb at the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).

The tugboat was denied permission to dock at the Tuticorin Old Port in Tamil Nadu when it reached there on Thursday morning after officials came to know about Adeeb’s presence in the boat. The tugboat was anchored a few nautical miles off the port. Officials questioned Adeeb and the tugboat crew members on Thursday and Friday.

In the early hours of Saturday, Indian Coast Guard personnel took Adeeb, the tugboat and its crew to the International Maritime Boundary Line and handed them over to the Maldivian security personnel. The crew members included an Indian and eight Indonesians.

The Maldivian officials will conduct inquiries with them to find out how Adeeb, who faces serious charges, had escaped from his country on the tugboat and who all had helped him.

Adeeb was sacked and arrested on charges of trying to assassinate the then Maldives president, Abdulla Yameen, by blowing up his speedboat in September 2015. A court convicted him and sentenced him to 15 years in jail in 2016. However, in May 2019, the sentence was quashed.



In Video: Former Maldives vice-president Abdul Adeeb deported from India