25 expatriates who were residing illegally in the Maldives, without valid documentation, have been arrested.

A special operation is being conducted by relevant authorities in the Greater Malé Region to inspect locations where illegal expatriates reside and places where food is prepared in ways that pose a risk to public safety and security.

As part of the operations carried out by the Task Force to find foreigners living illegally in the Maldives, two locations were inspected on Thursday night.

Taking to social media platform ‘X’, Maldives Immigration revealed that a total of 102 expatriates were searched during the operation. As a result, seven foreigners from a house in Henveiru and 18 foreigners from a place where foreigners were living in Maafannu Haveeree Goalhi were taken into Immigration custody, totaling 25 foreigners who were residing in the Maldives without valid documentation.

Immigration continues to conduct numerous operations to identify expatriates staying illegally and deport such individuals. So far, more than 6,000 expatriates have been deported through these operations.

The process of collecting biometric data of all expatriates in the Maldives is also underway. The government has revealed that under ‘Operation Kurangi’, information has been collected on 43,294 expatriates living in 59 islands so far. Of these, 24,540 expatriates have been regularized.

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