Police have busted a local drug network and arrested five Maldivians and four Indians while they were in possession of nine kilograms of illegal substances.
The men were arrested when they arrived in the Maldives aboard a cargo boat named ‘Silver Cloud 49’, a vessel carrying goods from India to the Maldives that had just unloaded eggs, potatoes and onions from Tuticorin port in India.
Police conducted a join operation with the customs, police intelligence and police drug enforcement department to disrupt the drug network.
According to a statement issued by police, the vessel arrived in the Maldives yesterday morning.
Police said that during the same operation police obtained a searched warrant and searched a house in Male’, where they discovered a large amount of foreign and Maldivian currency.
A further two expatriates were arrested in the house, police said.
Police did not disclose the name of the house where the money was found or the amount of money found inside the house.
According to local newspaper ‘Haveeru’, Deputy Police Commissioner Hussain Waheed tweeted that the street value of the drugs discovered during the operation would reach up to MVR 10 million (US$648,000).
Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef told Minivan News that the operation was still going on and refused to disclose further information before the operation was concluded.