Customs foils drug smuggling attempt, seizes hefty haul

Maldives Customs Service has seized over a kilogram of drugs that were being smuggled into the Maldives via Maldives Post.

Regarding the case, Customs revealed that the shipment was seized on 4 March 2025, while inspecting a package brought into the Maldives through the postal service. Customs became suspicious that drugs were hidden inside it and conducted further analysis.

During the initial testing of the suspicious substances found in the inspected package, they tested positive for cannabis, a type of narcotic. Customs revealed that the total weight of the substances, including packaging, was 1.070 kilograms, with an estimated street value of MVR 856,000.

For further investigation of the case, the seized drugs and the package, along with a 52-year-old local man who came to collect the package at Customs, have now been handed over to the Maldives Police Service (MPS).

The 52-year-old man handed over to the police by Customs in the case has been identified as Ahmed Shafeeu. The man was captured under suspicions of importing and trafficking narcotics.

While the Criminal Court has granted a five-day detention period for him, the court order stated that when a cardboard box brought into the country under someone else's name was inspected in his presence as he had come to collect it on behalf of that person, two rubber packets containing suspected narcotics were found inside.