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MALÉ: The Criminal Court has sentenced three men to prison and imposed hefty fines after finding them guilty of money laundering and running a commercial network of 571 Telegram channels dedicated to sharing sexually explicit material.

The court published the full sentencing judgments on its official website following guilty pleas from all three defendants, who were originally arrested during a major cybercrime crackdown in August 2024.

The convicts were identified as Zubair Ali of Bahaaruge, ADh. Mahibadhoo; Nasif Ali of Dhaftharu No. RS 14751; and Ismail Zabeeh of Silinkoe, K. Kaashidhoo.

Key court sentences and case statistics include:

• Zubair Ali Sentences: Received an 18-day prison term for one count of possessing pornographic material, 9 days for a second count, one year and one month for distributing explicit material, and two years and six months in prison along with an MVR 600,000 fine for money laundering.

• Nasif Ali Sentences: Sentenced to two years and six months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of MVR 263,232 for money laundering.

• Ismail Zabeeh Sentences: Sentenced to two years and six months in prison and fined MVR 100,000 for money laundering connected to illicit proceeds, including funds generated by impersonating a woman online to defraud victims.

• Seized Digital Content: Police seized 14 digital devices and nine primary Telegram accounts controlling 571 channels, which contained 241,651 explicit images and 86,618 videos.

• Subscription Revenue: Police investigations revealed that 34,680 individuals paid subscription fees to access the explicit network, generating around MVR 2 million in illicit earnings.

The Cyber Crime Center had seized the digital assets and blocked access to the 571 channels at the time of the initial arrests.