Maldives Police Service (MPS) has on Wednesday seized a hefty number of illegal narcotics being smuggled into Gadhdhoo island of Gaaf Dhaal atoll.

Police media official revealed that they had conducted an operation on Wednesday night upon being tipped off that drugs were being smuggled into Gadhdhoo on a boat travelling from the capital city.

As such, officers had raided the boat when it docked at the island harbor and conducted a search following which they found five large rubber packets suspected to contain narcotics concealed inside sacks of rice.

While no arrests have been made in connection to the case thus far, the Police Station in the island has taken on the investigation of the case.

In addition, officers of Noonu Velidhoo Police Station had also conducted an operation in the island upon which they seized narcotics from a 40-year-old man.

Police also arrested a 19-year-old with narcotics in Foakaidhoo island of Shaviyani atoll.

There has been an increase in drug trafficking and usage in recent days.

By year end in 2018, Maldives Customs revealed that they had seized 232 percent more narcotics in 2018, compared to 2017.

As such, they had seized 32 kilograms of narcotics in 83 operations from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018.