A Sri Lankan national who served a one-year prison sentence in the Maldives over the alleged smuggling of more than two kilograms of gold has been acquitted by the Maldives High Court.
According to Maldivian media reports, the High Court overturned the conviction on October 28, 2026, exactly one year after the Criminal Court sentenced Mohamed Sulaimhan to one year in prison on October 28, 2025.
The case dates back to September 21, 2023, when Sulaimhan arrived at Velana International Airport in the Maldives on an Emirates flight via Dubai.
Customs officers stopped him as he attempted to leave through the Green Channel and discovered 2,282 grams of gold paste concealed in the pockets of his jeans and inside his underwear.
He was subsequently charged with smuggling goods under Section 97(a) of the Maldives Customs Act and sentenced to one year in prison.
However, the High Court unanimously ruled that the charges did not satisfy the legal requirements necessary to establish the offence of smuggling.
The court noted that the prosecution had acknowledged that the gold was neither a prohibited item nor subject to customs duty.
It also rejected the State’s argument that undeclared gold could be treated as an unauthorised commodity, stressing that conduct cannot be criminalised unless it is explicitly defined as an offence under the law.
The High Court further determined that the Criminal Court’s conviction violated constitutional provisions and overturned the ruling.
The decision was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Judges Mohamed Shaneez, Hussain Mazeed and Huzaifa Mohamed.
The acquittal came after Sulaimhan had already completed the full one-year prison sentence imposed by the lower court.
