Cigarette Heist: MIFCO suspends Muaz Ali

Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) has suspended its General Manager of Engineering and Projects, Muaz Ali, following his arrest in connection with the theft of two containers holding 13.6 million smuggled cigarettes seized by Customs.

Muaz, a former Customs officer, was arrested alongside three others on Tuesday night. The containers were seized on April 26 and stored at the Hulhumale’ port managed by Maldives Ports Limited (MPL). The theft was discovered on October 8 and reported to police the following day.

The Criminal Court remanded Muaz in custody for five days. His suspension from MIFCO will last 30 days under the company’s employee regulations, pending an internal investigation. In a memo signed by CEO Brigadier General (Rtd) Farhath Shaheer, MIFCO assured staff that operations would continue uninterrupted. Project management duties have been reassigned to Manager Mohamed Shameem, while Consultant Engineer Ubaidullah Hussain now oversees the engineering unit.

MIFCO emphasized that while the cigarette case is unrelated to its operations, it takes employee integrity seriously, especially for those in senior roles. “The management assures the public that it will continue to take such measures in a new spirit to maintain the trust and reputation of the company,” the statement read.

The other suspects include Lotus shop owner Ahmed Arif (Aattey), Apollo Holdings owner Mohamed Waheed (Digali), and Customs employee Zivar Ismail. Arif and Zivar were remanded for 15 days, while Waheed was remanded for 10.

MPL, which had custody of the containers, has suspended six employees and launched a security audit of its Hulhumale’ and Male' terminals. Customs has pledged to take the strictest action against any staff found complicit.