Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamaan Waheed has stated that 4,361 illegal migrants have been deported back to their countries, so far.

Speaking at a press conference held at the President's Office on Tuesday, Shamaan said that their target was to deport 5,000 illegal migrants residing in the Maldives and that so far, 4,361 have been sent back to their countries.

Providing an update on the work done by Maldives Immigration so far, Shamaan said that in the past 11 months, 186 raid orders were issued, and 1,237 places were inspected.

Shamaan said that among these, 70 intelligence-based targeted raid operations were conducted in collaboration with the Maldives Police Service (MPS).

According to the Controller General of Immigration, these raids mainly focused on places involved in prostitution.

Shamaan added that they are primarily targeting operations of illegal migrants residing in the Maldives who are involved in conducting business without any connection to Maldivians and operating independently without paying taxes.

Speaking on the mass operation conducted in the Greater Malé Region, Shamaan said that 896 locations have been inspected so far.

In addition to this, the Controller General of Immigration stressed that 51 foreigners who attempted to enter the Maldives illegally by crossing the border have been deported.

Shedding light on the efforts made to monitor the illegal entry of migrants into the island nation, he said that many foreigners attempt to enter the Maldives using counterfeit or forged passports.

The immigration department has identified several cases of counterfeit and forged passports, documents used for identity fraud, and forged visas.

In an earlier presser, Shamaan stated that more than 2,000 illegal migrants residing in the Maldives were deported between November 2023 – July 2024.

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 several such cases as well.