Inspector Mohamed Jinah, Head of Drug Enforcement Department, said on Saturday that Ibrahim Adam Manik had been arrested in connection with the crime he had been sentenced to in Sri Lanka. He said that the Maldives Police Service had the authority to investigate crimes committed by Maldivians in other countries.

"We are investigating a case that is connected to the sentence that was served to him in Sri Lanka," Jinah said.

Ibrahim had been sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Sri Lankan court on drug possession charges when his family, with the help of the Maldivian government, had worked out a prisoner exchange agreement with the Sri Lankan authorities to bring him to Maldives to serve out his sentence in his native country. Manik had been kept at the low security prison in Feydhoofinolhu for a day before being released to house arrest, citing medical reasons. He is the son of the President of Malé Municipality, Sarangu Adam Manik.