Three Maldivians have been arrested in Trivandrum or Thiruvananthapuram, India in a major drug bust with 17 kilograms of hashish oil.

According to the Times of India, Thiruvananthapuram City Police arrested the international drug dealer who was on the run, Shanees Maheer, 27 along with his accomplices Aiman Ahmed, 24 and Ibrahim Fauzan Solih following a tip-off from the National Drugs Control Bureau to Kerala Anti-Narcotic Special Action Force (KANSAF) after which an inter-country and inter-department search was launched to arrest Shanees.

The three who have been tailed by the Indian City Shadow Police for the past three days were trying to smuggle narcotics into Maldives from Trivandrum International Airport.

According to the Indian news outlet, the trio had been shifting from one luxury hotel to the other within the city limits and officers of the police who had checked into the same hotels had found that the trio brought around 32 kilograms of dalda sachets. It is reportedly believed that the trio's plan was to smuggle hashish oil in the sachets after emptying the content.

The times reported that Shanees has allegedly been engaged in "transhipment and mid-sea transactions across the international drug market."

Times reported that the seized hashish oil is worth around INR 50 million (USD 3,227,000.00 or MVR 11.5 million) in the international market.

The police are evidently further investigating if there are any filed cases against them in other countries, and will make more arrests in the near future.