FORMER Maldives vice president Ahmed Adeeb was detained Thursday (01) by Indian authorities for trying to illegally enter the South Asian nation on a tug boat, officials said.
Adeeb, who was released from a Maldives jail in May after a court quashed a conviction for attempting to kill then-president Abdulla Yameen in 2015, was taken into custody in the port city of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu state, the officials told.
He is due to face a new trial over the attempted murder case and also faces corruption investigations dating back to when he was deputy to Yameen, who was defeated in an election last year.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Adeeb did not have a passport when he was detained on the tug.
The Maldives government made no immediate comment.
Adeeb is under investigation in the Maldives over allegations that state funds were embezzled and that he was involved in a money-laundering scandal embroiling Yameen.
The Maldives government seized Adeeb's passport amid the investigations.
This photograph taken on April 28, 2026 shows a boy getting "thali", a sacred thread tied to his neck symbolising marriage to Hindu warrior god Aravan during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. For a few fleeting days each year, at the heart of the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts -- and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom.Getty Images
This photograph taken on April 29, 2026 shows a member of the transgender community mourning as a priest cuts the "thali", a sacred thread symbolising end of her marriage to Hindu warrior god Aravan during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. For a few fleeting days each year, at the heart of the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts -- and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom. Getty Images