Criminal Court Jails Man for 21 Days After Unpaid MVR 4,200 Fine in Phone Snatching Case

The Criminal Court has sentenced a man to 21 days in prison after he failed to pay the state the fine money in a case involving the snatching of a phone. The ruling in the case was issued against Ali Waheed of Misrugan'dakolhi Maage, Hithadhoo, Addu. In the case of the snatching of a phone, he was ordered on June 4, 2026, to pay a fine of MVR 4,200. Although he was ordered to pay the money to the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) within three months, the state told the court that no amount of the fine money had been paid by the time the period expired. Therefore, the Prosecutor General's Office requested that an order be issued to begin enforcing the original sentence imposed on him in the case. Accordingly, the Criminal Court has revised the fine sentence imposed on him and determined that the sentence he must serve is the original sentence imposed on him, which is 21 days in prison, to be served continuously. The order to enforce the prison sentence as so determined was issued on the ninth of this month. The man sentenced to prison snatched a Nokia phone on February 24 last month at around 11:00 in a bag placed on a tree at Rasfannu beach. According to the owner, the bag containing the phone also held five rufiyaa and a cash card. The bag along with those items was snatched at the time the owner entered the sea. Ali Waheed, who snatched the bag, was charged with the offence of exercising force over another person's property in a manner that is not permitted. He has also confessed in court to having committed this theft.