'Cursed' coconut seized at Maldives election

Curses are considered a serious business in the Maldives where laws exist to deal with people who are believed to be practicing black magic. The coconut was discovered near to the Guraidhoo Island School which was being used as a polling station for the country's presidential election.

Authorities called in a white magic practitioner to evaluate whether the coconut posed a threat to the election results by influencing those who had come to vote. It was eventually determined that the innocuous looking fruit was in fact a prank.

"The four-inch coconut had a Sura (Qur'anic verse) written in Arabic and was lying on the ground near the school, easy for the public to see," said a source from the region. "It seems like it was a joke, just a prank, so that people will become aware, learn the moral, and not do it again. Now the police and school officials are more aware and police are patrolling the school at night, so magicians can’t practice real black magic at the school."

Back in July, parents of children who attend the school were hesitant to allow the polling station there because of concerns over a local witch who they believed was practicing black magic. After much deliberation however authorities went ahead and allowed the voting to take place there anyway.

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