Despite the arrest of his eldest son and three of his staff, deposed ruling party leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom appeared unfazed amid the government crackdown expressing disappointment over missing out on a proper view of the super blue blood moon.
A day after Gayoom's lawmakers son Faris Maumoon was taken into custody, police searched the houses of his staff and arrested three over allegations of terrorism.
The trio who works at the former president's office were arrested shortly after police searched their houses in the capital Male.
Police have accused the three of attempting to bribe lawmakers to overthrow the government. The trio have also been accused of a terrorism plot to overthrow the government.
Police have launched a crackdown on Gayoom and had tried to search his apartment on Saturday. The attempted search came hours after police arrested Gayoom's lawmaker son over allegations of plotting to overthrow the government.
Dhiggaru MP Faris Maumoon was taken into custody less than a day after he was released from remand. Gayoom's eldest son had been in pre-trial detention after being charged with attempting to bribe fellow lawmakers to back an opposition led move to unseat the parliament speaker last year.
Despite the public and opposition outrage over the attempt to intimidate the former president, Gayoom appeared unfazed.
"Heavily overcast conditions prevented any good viewing of the super blue blood moon in Male tonight. I was able to see only the last 20 minutes of the partial phase," Gayoom Tweeted.
"Extremely disappointing!".
