A man has been arrested with narcotics weighing over a kilogram during an operation conducted by the Maldives Police Service (MPS) in Addu City’s Hithadhoo district.

Police reported that they had conducted an operation following an intelligence report that the drugs were being smuggled and sold in the region.

The police had arrested a 19-year-old during the operation conducted close to 1700 hrs on Wednesday.

The man had been arrested with four large rubber packets suspected to contain narcotic substances.

While cases of smuggling narcotics, illegal drug trade and such crimes have skyrocketed since mid-2018, an adequate solution is yet to be reached in such cases. Police crime statistics have also shown drug cases to have notably skyrocketed during the past few months, with the police having destroyed large amounts of drugs and alcohol seized in separate operations, within this time period.

Although officers of the MPs are making waves of arrests across the nation in narcotics-related cases, they are yet to take preventive measures to reduce the number of similar crimes.