1.6 tons drugs seized in past four years

Home Minister Abdulla Imran, on Wednesday, revealed that 1.6 tons of drugs have been seized over the past four years, whereas 1.9 tons of drugs, including those seized before, have been destroyed.

At a press conference held on Wednesday to brief the media on the successes the home sector has achieved in the past four years – Minister Imran said that the highest priority was allocated to ensuring the internal security of Maldives. He cited the most important work carried out in this trajectory as counter-narcotics operations.

“During the past four years,1.6 tons of drugs have been seized. Meanwhile, 1.9 tons of drugs, including those seized before, were destroyed,” he had said.

Commissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed who also spoke at the press conference said that police place the highest priority on drug operations amongst all. He detailed that organized networks trafficking drugs into the Maldives have been closely monitored by the police within the past four years.

“Apart from finding the drugs trafficked by these networks as much as we can – we are also taking action against them, and destroying the drugs discovered,” he had said.

CP Hameed said that 562 counter-narcotic operations were carried out during the past four years – whilst 11,955 arrests were made in connection to drug-related offenses. 6,165 cases related to the arrestees were investigated – whilst 2,681 of them were forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG Office) requesting charges.

Speaking further, CP Hameed underscored that 35 drug cafés are in operation in the Male’ area. He emphasized the difficulties faced by the police, in closing these cafés. Nevertheless, he said efforts in this trajectory are pursued every day without losing hope.

Underscoring the biggest dangers posed to Maldivian people as the criminal gangs formed, and escalated in the Maldives – Minister Imran said that much work has been done to decrease and halt gang activities.

“In this regard, a mid-term and a long-term plan have been formulated to deal with gangs which we are currently implementing,” he added.

Minister Imran stressed that the positive impacts of these plans are currently being witnessed by the people. He underscored that the government was working tirelessly, day and night, to protect the citizens from threats posed by gangs.