Customs nabs illegal shipment of over 8 million cigarettes at Male’ port

Maldives Customs Service on Sunday seized an illegal shipment of over eight million sticks of cigarettes that was being smuggled into the Maldives via the Male’ Commercial Harbor.

Customs announced on Tuesday that the shipment was seized in a special operation at the Male’ Commercial Harbor, during which they checked a shipment declared as general cargo.

Officers found a large quantity of cigarettes hidden inside the shipment.

According to Customs, the operation led to the seizure of 8,527,480 sticks of cigarettes.

The case is under investigation by the authorities.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration had introduced sweeping changes back in 2024 to crack down on smoking. The changes saw the introduction of a ban on vapes and e-cigarettes, a smoking ban on the post-2007 generation, as well as the doubling of import duty on cigarettes, beedi and heated tobacco products.

The anti-smoking measures earned Maldives global recognition, with a World No-Tobacco Day Special Recognition Award from the World Health Organization (WHO) for President Muizzu, and an Integrity Award from the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC) for the Maldives.

Despite the global recognition for the measures, the ban on vapes and the subsequent doubling of import duty on cigarettes created an illegal market where vapes and cheaper brands of cigarettes are being smuggled in and sold in the Maldives. This has also resulted in the loss of millions of Rufiyaa in import revenue.

The import duty hike was later reversed back in July.