Malé City Mayor Shifa Mohamed has revealed that major drug dealers were released from jail during the former presidency of Abdulla Yameen.

This comes at a time there has been a rise in drug trafficking and user networks across the capital in recent days.

Quite recently, a secret "drug café" was discovered which cause public outrage over a delay in curbing issues related to drugs.

Taking to Twitter in connection to the issue, Mayor Shifa revealed that several drug dealers were incarcerated, however, they were released during the former administration of Abdulla Yameen in 2013.

During the administration of Mohamed Nasheed, several operations were conducted to seek out drug trafficking networks, however, some political figures asserted that it did not bring out desirable effects as some of them had links to Maldives courts.

While there are several videos circulating on social media, showing individuals acting under the influence of drugs, this has drawn public criticism towards the government. Police have since begun an operation through which over 37 arrests have been made thus far.