An officer has been arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs into a prison facility.

Arrested was a prison officer of the Maldives Correctional Service (MCS).

Commissioner of Prisons Ahmed Mohamed Fulhu revealed this via a Twitter post on Monday evening, stating that the prison officer was arrested during a special operation conducted jointly by the Maldives Police Service (MPS) and MCS, after suspicions that the officer was smuggling narcotics into prison.

The officer has since been taken into police custody.

The Commissioner of Prisons also revealed that action has also been taken on the officer.

As such, the officer has been suspended from his duties.

Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed Fulhu had earlier assured that the authority places high priority in efforts to curb and crackdown on the spiraling issue of smuggling prohibited items such as mobile phones and drugs into prison complexes.

He added that action is being taken against those involved and found guilty in such cases.