News

Prison drug smuggling network 13 prison officers arrested

Published

2 days ago

28/06/2024

Maldives Police Service, on Friday, announced that the number of prison officers arrested on the suspicion of smuggling drugs and other contraband to prison has increased to 13.

During a home sector press conference held last night, authorities revealed details of an investigation that uncovered that 18 prison officers of Maldives Correctional Service were involved in smuggling drugs to prisons, with their bank accounts containing MVR 73 million.

The Police, last night, said only eight prison officers have been arrested so far. However, this morning, they announced an increase in the number of arrestees – which now stands at 13.

They include nine prison officers arrested from K. Maafushi, two from K. Kaashidhoo, one from HA. Utheem and one from Male’ City. No further details regarding the arrestees were disclosed by the Police.

Speaking at last night’s press conference, Home Minister Ali Ihusan, underscoring six of 18 prison officers involved have resigned from Corrections this year, said action will nevertheless be initiated against them. The remaining officers are still employed by Corrections.

It was noted the bank accounts of the six individuals who resigned contained large sums of money despite them not being employed at another job or carrying out a business.

“In this regard, MVR 24 million has been deposited to the accounts of some staff. Through our investigations, we uncovered that approximately MVR 73,600.000 have been deposited to the accounts of these 18 staff starting from January 2023 to date,” Assistant Commissioner of Police, Chief Superintendent Abdulla Shareef said.

The money had been transferred from accounts of detainees in prison and known criminals in Male’ area.

Home Minister Ali Ihusan the circulation of such a large amount of money among several accounts will “surely” be investigated. He added that the transfers had gone unnoticed by the bank as they were made in small sums.

Source(s): sun.mv

News

Minister Saeed extends gratitude to ICBC for support

Published

14 hours ago

30/06/2024

Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed has extended gratitude to the management Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) for support rendered to the Maldives.

Minister Saeed, as part of his ongoing official visit to China, visited the bank’s headquarters in capital Beijing on Saturday.

He added that the bank’s support affirmed the importance attached by the Chinese side to extend their full support to implement the consensus reached between the presidents of Maldives and China.

Minister Saeed’s visit to China was to attend the 15th World Economic Forum, held at the Dalian Congress Hall in Dalian Province, China, from June 25th to June 27th.

As part of this visit, he has also met with the management of People’s bank of China (PBC) during which both sides deliberated on ways to expand cooperation between the two nations.

Besides this, the Minister also met with the Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, for discussions related to the free trade agreement (FTA) between the Maldives and China.

The chief of this discussion was on establishing a currency settlement system between the two countries, to enhance trade and commerce ties.

It is a key priority of Dr. Muizzu’s administration to seek such currency settlement agreements with bigger economic allies and frequent trade collaborators, to enhance trade convenience.

Source(s): sun.mv

News

50 undocumented migrants handed over to Immigration

Published

14 hours ago

30/06/2024

50 undocumented migrants were handed over to the custody of Maldives Immigration on Saturday, during a joint operation carried out by the Immigration and Maldives Police Service on Saturday.

Police said the operation was focused on various areas of Male’ including the local market and other similar markets.

50 undocumented migrants were identified during the operation, noted the Police, adding all of them have now been handed over to the custody of Immigration.

As per the Police, Saturday’s operation was spearheaded by Immigration itself.

Home Minister Ali Ihusan said the issue of undocumented migrants would be resolved in three years under the recently launched ‘Operation Kurangi’.

However, he stressed that the goal is not to arrest and deport migrants, but to give them a chance to get regularized.

Notably, Maldives has recently halted the recruitment of unskilled laborers from Bangladesh due to illegal recruitment by submission of counterfeit documents.

Source(s): sun.mv

News

Customs nab MVR 1.6 mil worth smuggled cigarettes

Published

19 hours ago

30/06/2024

Maldives Customs Service has confiscated MVR 1.6 million worth of smuggled cigarettes.

Customs on Saturday said it recently conducted inspects in Male’ and Hulhumale’, as part of an investigation on alleged smuggled contraband.

The authority inspected one location from Hulhumale’ on Monday last week, and four venues from Male’ and Hulhumale’ later on Wednesday last week as part of the investigation.

173 cartons of 1,731,597 cigarettes were confiscated through Customs’ raids, with an estimated market value of MVR 1.6 million.

The duty on the now confiscated cigarette cartons is worth MVR 5.6 million, customs added.

Maldives Police Service and the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) both lended support in Customs’ operations. The authority thanked both law enforcement agencies for their support.

Source(s): sun.mv