6 arrested for smuggling drugs, alcohol into Maafushi

Police have arrested six suspects, including a Sri Lankan national, in two counter-narcotics operations in K. Maafushi.

The suspects were arrested on December 9.

According to police, the two operations conducted by the Drug Enforcement Department, Counter-Narcotics Intelligence and Maafushi Police Station based on information received by Police Intelligence of a drug and alcohol trafficking and distribution operation in Maafushi.

The suspects were identified as a 29-year old Maldivian male, a 22-year-old Maldivian male, a 21-year-old Maldivian male, a 34-year-old Maldivian male, a 51-year-old Maldivian male, and a 28-year-old Sri Lankan male.

Three of the suspects – the 29-year old, the 22-year-old, and the 21-year-old – were arrested with drugs during a search of three private residences in Maafushi.

The Maafushi Magistrate Court remanded them to custody of police for 10 days.

The other three suspects – the 34-year-old, the 51-year-old Maldivian, and the 28-year-old – were arrested during the search of a liveaboard vessel docked off Maafushi.

Police seized 88 alcohol bottles from the vessel.

They were released when presented before the Maafushi Magistrate Court for their remand hearing.

Both cases are under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Department.