Success achieved in a year: Efforts commenced to close doors inviting crimes

Home Minister Ali Ihusan, on Sunday, cited one of the biggest achievements of the current administration as it marks one year in office today as conducting research to close legal loopholes that encourage criminal activity, along with the submission of proposed amendments to fully eliminate these gaps.

Speaking during an exclusive interview with Sun on the occasion of the first anniversary of the current administration’s first anniversary, Minister Ihusan said the administration came to power to undertake some serious work. However, he noted some obstructions in the pursuit of this arising from the fact that various agencies pertaining to national security are under the oversight of different ministries leading to difficulties in carrying forth collaborative work among them.

“To resolve this, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu incepted Minister of Homeland, Security and Technology and brought all relevant agencies under the oversight of this Ministry,” he added.

Minister Ihusan said the President incepted the Home Ministry with a new mandate for the purpose of resolving the issues across the society, especially issues that are of huge concern, to ensure the safety of the public. They include combatting gang crimes, finding permanent solutions to drug-related crimes and illegal immigration in addition to saving children subject to criminal environments.

Within a span of a year, the Minister said research has been conducted on why such issues persist in the society with efforts also underway to make necessary amendments to laws to resolve them.

“At present, we have submitted amendments to the Anti-Gang Act which came into force in 2021. As the law does not stipulate some crimes, often gangs go unpunished in the Maldives after committing crimes. To put a stop to this, we have submitted a revised legislation,” he said.

Speaking further, Minister Ihusan stressed that the “real culprits” in drug-related crimes are not punished, adding that even if they are jailed, they end up getting released in conjunction with every election. Henceforth, he said the difficulties enforcement agencies face in this trajectory have been identified and amendments have been submitted to the relevant legislation to eliminate the loopholes.

The Minister also highlighted ongoing efforts to address illegal migration, including proposed amendments to relevant laws and the establishment of task forces. A total of 5,000 illegal immigrants have been deported within the past year, he added.

Moreover, Minister Ihusan noted that counter-drug operations were expanded over the past year which saw the seizure of drugs worth MVR 300 million within Maldivian borders.

“We have taken steps against drug trafficking into the Maldives and its internal distribution which is being implemented in a very comprehensive manner,” he said.

He also mentioned that the Hope Island project, which is designed to address the issue of juvenile offenders, is now at the stage where it will soon be awarded to a contractor.