A foreigner has been arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs into the Maldives.

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) revealed that a traveler from Latvia, 49, was arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs into the Maldives by ingesting them.

The arrest was made following an intel report received by the Police Intelligence Unit, by the efforts of officers from the Maldives Immigration and Maldives Customs Service.

The police institution has since revealed that they are working to extract the ingested drugs.

This comes at a time another traveler was arrested and deported for attempting to smuggle 2.6 kilograms of drugs into the country via air, very recently. The suspected drugs had tested positive for cocaine in the initial analysis.

The Brazilian woman was not allowed entry into the Maldives and was consecutively deported. The 23-year-old woman who arrived at the Velana International Airport (VIA) on February 6, was searched upon suspicious behavior.

Customs revealed that the woman was deported after consultations with the enforcement authorities, in accordance with the rules for “dealing with foreigners flying into the Maldives, in case they are suspected of smuggling drugs into the country”.

If a person has entered the Maldives with drugs hidden in their body, and if the traveler agrees to cooperate with the police, under "controlled delivery", this regulation does not prevent the traveler to be detained even after making arrangements for the traveler’s repatriation in consultation with the airline.