SUNIL JAYASIRI 
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Convicted drug lord departs to SL for medical reasons
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Ibrahim 'Shafaa' Shafaz Abdul Razzaq, the man believed to be the head of one of the most notorious drug cartels in the Maldives, had on Wednesday night departed to Sri Lanka for medical reasons.
The Criminal Court had in last November sentenced Shafaz to 18 years of imprisonment and a fine of MVR75,000 on charges of drug trafficking.
Reportedly, Maldives correctional service was neither informed of his return date, nor did a member of the correctional service accompany Shafaz on his trip to Sri Lanka.
Despite the harsh sentence that was imposed on Shafaz, he was reported to have been kept in Male prison, and occasionally taken to Maafushi prison for brief periods.
Police had apprehended Shafaz from Fashange in Henveiru in 2011 in a special operation. According to police intelligence information, the drug network had been functioning since 2005, with Shafaz as the head.
During the bust in 2011, the police had discovered over 800 grams of heroin from Shafaz's apartment and opiates from another apartment rented from another floor of the house by a person connected to the network.
Shafaz was convicted based on phone call recordings with a Sri Lankan believed to be the supplier, and financial transactions with Colombo.
Three of Shafaz's accomplices were also arrested during the operation.
The Criminal Court had sentenced the three men to 10 years of imprisonment for possession of illicit narcotics, also in November 2013.(Haveeru Online)
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