Their possessions were not returned, and the diplomatic inquiries by the embassies involved were pointedly ignored. Four residences of foreigners and one residence of a local were checked by police after they received reports of missionary activity there, police said. Although police headquarters did not reveal the number of people who were taken into custody, they said that information will be released upon further investigation into the matter. Literature on Christianity, in both foreign and Dhivehi languages, was discovered at the homes of the missionaries. Maldives, which has a population of 260,000, has been a 100 percent Sunni Muslim country for more than 800 years.
Constitutional laws are in force to ensure the Islamic unity of the homogeneous country.
The police suspected that without local Maldivian assistance the broadcast and the Christian literature found in Dhivehi language could not have been translated. To bring this situation under control, the police arrested a group of locals and foreigners whom they suspected of spreading Christianity. It is reported that the 10 year-old son of one particular lady whom the police suspected to be a Christian is the person who first reported that his mother was a Christian, and then went with the police, identifying those who were in touch with her. Two of the women arrested have openly acknowledged that they are Christians, which is a crime under Maldivian law. These are the names we can openly mention and actively lobby for.