Foreigner operating a shop in Malé arrested

A foreigner operating a shop in Malé City has been brought into the custody of the Department of Immigration and Emigration.

Information Officer of Immigration, Hassan Khaleel told Sun Media today that the shop was found today in an operation in the capital.

He said that the shop is not registered and when inquired about it, the foreigner said that the shop belongs to a local man and the case is being investigated.

Immigration has noticed that the foreigner has been bringing in illegal expatriate workers into the country.

It is illegal for foreigners to run business shops in Maldives.

While 58 businesses were checked in the operation by Immigration conducted in Malé City, the information officer of Immigration said that 14 businesses were fined. Four of the shops were fined for having expatriate cashiers while the remaining ten were fined for housing illegal expatriates.

“Owners of some of the places we checked say that they tasked a foreigner as a cashier for a few minutes so they can go to the toilet. Immigration wants to say this is not an excuse acceptable to Immigration.” Khaleel said.

He said that four cafés, five shops and one workshop garage were checked today in an operation in H.Dh. Kulhuduffushi and they were all within the regulations.

“We want to note that all the places we checked in H.Dh. Kulhudhuffushi today were within the law.” Khaleel said.

Three of the five businesses checked in the operation at Maradhoo, Addu City.

Immigration said that the three businesses were fined for hiring illegal expatriates.