Controller of Immigration and Emigration Dr Mohamed Ali has said that a raid on the island of Thilafushi yesterday which uncovered 134 unregistered foreign workers reflects wider fears over criminal operations being conducted on the island.
Dr Ali told Minivan News that the group of foreign workers, mostly Bangladesh nationals, had been uncovered after the Immigration Department had made continued warnings to employers on the island to have their workers “regularised” with the correct papers by the end of August.
Beyond failing to register workers, the immigration controller said the raid reflected wider concerns over addressing potential criminal operations on Thilafushi – popularly referred to in international media as the Maldives’ ‘rubbish island’.
“Right now there are just so many issues to be addressed on Thilafushi,” he claimed. “We need to clean it up in all aspects. We believe there are a number of illegal operations there.”
According to the immigration department, these alleged activities are thought to include the shipping of illegal goods and drugs.
Dr Ali added that the expatriate workers found without correct papers were presently being kept for processing in Male’.
“At present they’re employers are working to take them back and have them processed,” he said.
The immigration controller did not have the exact figures on the number of workers presently being kept at a centre in Male’ while their papers were undergoing processing.
“These workers are not being detained, they are being kept comfortably and fed while processing is going on,” he added.
The High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Rear Admiral Abu Saeed Mohamed Abdul Awal, said he had been aware of the raid that had taken place yesterday by the Department of Immigration and Emmigration, but was awaiting for information on the matter at the time of press.
Back in May, 47 Bangladeshi nationals working for a local security were seized by the Department of Immigration as part of a wider crackdown on illeal immigrants after being found to have been incorrectly registered in the country.
Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef confirmed that it had worked with the Department of Immigration and Emmigration on the raid as part of a joint operation.
Haneef added that this joint operation with immigration officials would be continuing in the future, but would not be focused solely on Thilafushi
Back in July, the Maldives was included on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking for a third year in a row.
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employers should be held accountable for not handling the papers as required and also investigated and tried for human trafficking, which is why we need that act asap.
what we are now is, slave driving barbarians. that is fact.
The pay of Bangladeshi and Indian laborers is too low for them to continue working in the job they were trafficked into the Maldives for.
Human Beings always look for a better tomorrow, which is why most of them run away.
Thilafushi operations is a fraction of what is going on in Male'.
Walk through the streets of Male' during working hours.
Enter all the small general stores (kudhi fihaarathah)that are registered under a local owner, but a majority of them owned by individual Bangladeshi's and compound Bangladeshi workers working in Maldives.
Take another walk around 00:00 hours.
Check how many of them are opened for business and for replenishment of inventory.
Check their inventory against their procurement invoices that are very unlikely to be available.
You will then know what and what crime is committed by these people and what damage their kind who work in local businesses (in shops and warehouses) and how much damage they do these businesses by way of supplying these small shops mentioned before with stolen goods!
If Dr. Mohamed Ali really wants to clean up, as it is said here; he has to wake up!
What is holding the government from taking an initiative to legalise the undocumented migrant workers. Remember all this would be documented for tip report and then again Maldives is perhaps ready to be on tier 3 on the tip report and we can afford to be where we are when the funding is withdrawn , hmmm considering Maldives is threatning to leave cmag what more can we expect.