Authorities deport 206 expats with gang links, prostitution

Maldives Immigration on Wednesday said the authority has deported a total of 206 expatriates involved in criminal activities.

The authority said 65 of these immigrants had been involved in prostitution, the remaining 141 had links to criminal gangs and drugs.

At Immigration’s press conference, the authority revealed statistics of its ongoing crackdown to identify illegal immigrants and expats involved in running businesses illegally.

According to statistics, the authority has deported a total of 2,069 expatriates from November last year to July 16, with 152 raids conducted during the same period. The authority also revealed statistics of the offenses of the deported expats, which include;

Black market currency exchange networks: 8 deportations

Prostitution: 65 expats deported

Drug and gang-related crimes: 141 deportations

Illegal immigrants arrested through ongoing operations: 15 deportations

Forged/doctored visa and permits: 9 deportations

While the Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamman Waheed made revealed the total number of expats deported during the review period, the authority is currently conducting regular raids with the help of Maldives Police Service as well.

With a large population of expatriates working in the Maldives, illegal immigration and expats running businesses illegally are prevalent issues.

Earlier, the Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology launched ‘Operation Kurangi’, a nationwide campaign to collect biometrics of immigrants and to add their details into an official registry.