Drugs worth MVR 9M seized from Indian passenger

Maldives Customs Service, on Thursday, announced the seizure of drugs worth MVR 9 million attempted to be smuggled into the Maldives by an Indian woman who traveled to the island nation from Ethiopia.

The drugs were seized during an investigation prompted by intelligence information received to customs regarding an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of drugs into the Maldives via air.

In this regard, the drugs were discovered on a 56-year-old Indian woman who traveled to Maldives from Ethiopia on Wednesday. Cocaine was seized from the woman’s handbag while heroin was seized from her luggage.

The cocaine seized from the handbag weighed 1.18 kilos while the heroin seized from the luggage weighed 4.2 kilograms. Combined, their street value is estimated at MVR 9 million.

Customs said the case is under further investigation. The drugs seized have been handed over to the police in this trajectory.

A regulation that came into force in January provides the Controller of Immigration with the discretion to deny entry for foreigners arriving in the Maldives via air who are discovered with drugs. They include circumstances where it is suspected that drugs are stored in the passenger’s luggage or where intelligence has been received that the passenger is using Maldives as a transit point to transport drugs or the passenger is going to traffic drugs into the Maldives.