32 expats arrested in special raid operation by Immigration

In a special raid operation conducted in response to a report received by Immigration Watch, a house was searched and 32 foreigners were taken into custody by Maldives Immigration.

A video related to this operation was shared by Immigration on social media platform ‘X’, stating that the operation was carried out in response to a report received by Immigration Watch last April.

According to the report received by Immigration, it was observed that frozen fish, vegetables, and other food items were regularly being supplied from the second floor of M. Hithilaage. In addition to this, a large number of gas cylinders were also being brought to the building.

The video also highlighted that during lunchtime, people were seen leaving the house with a large number of packed meals for delivery, and delivery motorcycles were often parked near the building.

Immigration stated that this appeared to be a place set up for large-scale cooking and accommodating a large number of foreigners. They also mentioned that the building is an old four-story structure constructed in a basic manner with tin roofing.

In the operation conducted on Wednesday night in response to the report received by Immigration Watch, the taskforce checked the documents of 76 foreigners residing in the building. Among them, 32 foreigners, including those working illegally without valid visas and those who had run off from their employers, have been taken into Immigration custody.

Immigration has been conducting numerous operations to deport foreigners staying illegally. So far, more than 6,000 foreigners have been deported through these operations.

Among those deported from the Maldives are individuals who were staying without valid visas and those involved in various criminal activities. These include cases related to drugs, theft, and involvement in prostitution.