There are around 69 Maldivians who have travelled abroad to join foreign wars, excluding women and children, says Defence Minister Mariya Didi.

In an interview with The Hindu, the Defence Minister said that Maldives’ National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) gets its numbers from relatives and others who come forward and report on someone they know.

Minister Mariya said that most people have travelled to join foreign wars under the guise of travelling to friendly countries, making it difficult to give an official figure.

She also said that the recent terror attacks in Sri Lanka are of extreme concern to the Maldives, as a country predominantly dependent on tourism, and that the Maldivian authorities are establishing national-level, multi-agency security structures and measures.

Highlighting that violent extremism has spill-over effects in the region, Minister Mariya said that the demand for regional collaboration has become even more pressing.

She added that there is no imminent terrorist threat detected but that security forces have been holding emergency response exercises and that Aviation Security Command, Maldives Customs Service, and Maldives Immigration have heightened their security levels.

She said that the Maldivian government is also concerned with religious radicalization, which are monitored by high-level security committees, and that the government is currently working on designing and implementing a rehabilitation programme for radicalized individuals.