Maldives Immigration has revealed that 1,664 people were caught attempting to enter the Maldives using forged documents at the airport border, within the past eight months alone.

This was revealed during a press conference held by the Immigration office on Wednesday.

Speaking to press, Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamaan Waheed revealed that a total of 2,069 immigrants residing illegally in the Maldives were deported between 17 November 2023, to date.

A total of 153 raid operations have been held so far.

Shamaan added that these operations are still underway.

Further, he stated that 1,664 people who tried to enter the country using forged documents were identified at the airport border and deported without being allowed entry.

Shedding light on the efforts made to monitor the illegal entry of migrants into the island nation, Deputy Immigration Officer Mohamed Shifan stated that they have so far cracked down on 1,664 who had attempted to enter the country on unverified documents.

Shifan also stressed that people have tried to enter the country by forging work visas.

Some of them included 1,289 individuals from 85 countries who had attempted to enter on forged tourist visas and 341 individuals from 22 countries who had attempted to enter on forged work visas as well.

Shifan noted that 33 individuals were intercepted for trying to enter the Maldives using forged documents and one person who tried to enter the Maldives by fraudulent means.

Among the 1,289 individuals from 85 countries who had attempted to enter on forged tourist visas were 356 Bangladeshi nationals, 195 Sri Lankan nationals, 162 Indian nationals, 42 Nigerian nationals, 35 Vietnamese nationals and 499 from other countries.

Immigration officials have also revealed that some people were also using the Maldives as a transit destination to enter other countries using forged documents.

The Immigration office has cracked down on some of such cases as well.