525 Foreign Nationals Involved In Alcohol Trafficking Trade: Police

The Maldives Police Service has announced that they have information that 525 foreign nationals are actively involved in the alcohol trafficking trade.

The Police made the announcement during a news conference held today regarding the current state of the drug epidemic in the Maldives. They said that they had identified 525 foreign nationals as having been actively involved in the alcohol trafficking trade between 2015 and 2021.

Similarly, the police announced that they had identified that 146 foreign nationals had been involved in human trafficking between 2015 and 2021.

They said that in the past 3 years, 41 foreign nationals had been involved in 28 drug-smuggling cases; in some of the cases, the drugs had been swallowed. They were 10 Brazilians, 9 Pakistanis, 7 Bangladeshis, 5 Indians, and single individuals from Sri Lanka, Austria, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kenya, Latvia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.

The Police had also announced that they had identified 139 foreign nationals who frequented underground "drug cafes" being operated in Male City. They were 134 Bangladeshis, 3 Indians, and 2 Sri Lankans.