Terror plot busted in Maldives as Jaishankar inaugurates police training college, hands over coastal radar system built by India

The cops busted a suspected terrorist plot at Addu City in the Maldives as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday visited the second largest city of the archipelago to inaugurate a police training academy built with financial support from India.

Jaishankar also handed over to the Chief of Defence Forces of Maldives a Coastal Radar System that India built in the archipelago amid Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s increasing forays in the Indian Ocean. “This system will contribute to enhancing security for the Maldives and for the entire region,” said External Affairs Minister, who was on a visit to Addu City on Saturday and Sunday, notwithstanding the continuing “India Out” campaign that was launched by the island nation’s former president Abdullah Yameen and his Progressive Party along with its ally People’s National Congress, apparently with tacit support from Embassy of China in Malé.

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The cops arrested nine persons in Addu City and busted a suspected terrorist plot, even as Jaishankar and his counterpart, Abdulla Shahid, joined President of Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, to inaugurate the National College for Policing and Law Enforcement (NCPLE), which New Delhi helped the government of the neighbouring country build.

“We hope that the NCPLE will soon grow into an iconic institution that churns out the best brains and bodies to face the challenges that confront any modern police force,” said the External Affairs Minister. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed setting the stage for India’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy to help the Maldives Police Service develop the curriculum for training the cops at the newly built institution.

A source in New Delhi said that the security agencies of India and Maldives were in touch about the arrest of people involved in the suspected terrorist plot in the neighbouring country.

The EXIM Bank of India will also provide $ 40 million financing for building 61 police infrastructure facilities, including island and atoll-level police stations, divisional headquarters, detention centres and barracks, across the islands of Maldives. Jaishankar and Shahid also witnessed the signing of the $ 80 million contract for the Addu Reclamation and Shore-Protection project, which would also be funded by the Government of India.

“Our development partnership – which is transparent, which is driven by the needs and priorities of the people and the Government of Maldives – ranges upwards of $ 2.6 billion in terms of grants, loans, budgetary support, capacity building and training assistance,” the External Affairs Minister said.

The erstwhile regime of Abdulla Yameen had put the Maldives into a debt trap by awarding the state-owned companies of China contracts to build several infrastructure projects – mostly on unsustainable loan terms. Though Beijing’s influence over Abdullah Yameen's regime had resulted in strains in New Delhi’s relations with Malé, it saw a reset after Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed led the Maldivian Democratic Party to victory in the November 2018 elections.

Shahid on Saturday and Sunday reassured Jaishankar that the Government of Maldives would continue to pursue its “India First” policy, thus tacitly dismissing the “India Out” campaign by Abdullah Yameen’s party, which had planned to hold a rally during Indian External Affairs Minister’s visit to the Indian Ocean nation.

India had in February 2021 signed an agreement with the Maldives to “develop, support and maintain” a harbour at Uthuru Thila Falhu naval base in the island nation. Though the new harbour is being built officially for the use of the Maldives National Defence Force Coast Guard, it is likely to turn into a strategic asset for India and give it an edge over China, which has been trying to spread its tentacles in the Indian Ocean region.

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