Minister of Defence Mariya Ahmed Didi has revealed that drug smugglers are found to have high rates of dangerous illnesses. She made the remark while responding to questions at the Parliament of the Maldives.
At the sitting, Minister Mariya said that many suspects, including the individual who was caught smuggling in 2.6kg of drugs, have dangerous illnesses such as AIDS and kidney diseases. She highlighted that there are many such individuals in prison and that a significant amount of taxpayers’ money is being spent to keep them incarcerated. She added that the recent amendment to the Drug Act allows authorities to deport them after receiving a court order.
Additionally, Minister Mariya said that the Maldives Customs Service (MCS) and Maldives Immigration process the deportation of drug smugglers after determining their identity and evaluating the level of danger they impose. She also said that the policies on taking action against drug smugglers were implemented to reduce the level of blame aimed at authorities.
The policies dictate that the controller of immigration has the authority to hold and deport individuals if the relevant authorities receive intelligence that they are attempting to smuggle in drugs or are using the Maldives as a transit point to smuggle drugs to another country.