Police officers in the Maldives arrested a coconut. It had Arabic writing on it. It was a "sura" (a verse from the Koran). They said it was full of black magic to change the results of an election. Police took the "suspicious fruit" to a local police station. People worried about it. They thought it might affect the vote in Saturday's national election. People on the island of Guraidhoo believe black magic can stop people voting, or make them vote for someone else. The police spoke to a "ruqyah" (a good magician), who said the coconut was fake and contained no black magic.

A police official said it was a joke. He said people would understand the message and not do it again. The Huffington Post website said black magic affects life on the Maldives. In July, a school didn't let a voting box into the building. Teachers worried it would make students ill. In 2012, a religious leader asked the government to make black magic illegal. He said it was a sin to do black magic. He said it caused a lot of problems for many families and that it was time to do something about it. He said black magic was a major social issue in his country.