The state of the drug treatment system in the Maldives is concerning, says Assistant Commissioner of Police Ahmed Shifan.

ACP Shifan has expressed this concern at a time thefts and multiple other types of crimes are on the rise across the island nation.

Speaking to RaajjeMV, Shifan who also serves as Spokesperson at the Maldives Police Service (MPS), revealed that it was clear that efforts were made to reduce crime over the past 15 years, without much appreciating the results.

Shifan stressed that the state of the drug treatment system is worryingly poor.

Taking to social media platform ‘X’, Shifan noted that a large population of 434 convicts were released by the Maldives Correctional Service 10 months earlier.

Highlighting that the lack of return on investment over time has led to a serious crisis, Shifan stressed that the unplanned projects of infrastructure investments in the law enforcement sector in the past has made it so much more difficult to resolve the issue at hand.

Further, the ACP noted that the government had planned to construct 50 police stations to ensure the safety of the public, however, failed to proceed with the project. He added that the detention space to accommodate about 450 people was reduced to build the new prison and no new facility could be established either.

With this, Shifan stressed that it has become a difficult task to resolve these issues.

He added that efforts have been planned to be made at the official capacity of the police institution, to resolve the situation.

Cases of break-ins, theft, robbery, drug smuggling and peddling have been on the rise at an alarming rate of recent.