Immigration detains 25 irregular expats from Male’

The Maldives Immigration has detained 25 irregular expatriates after inspecting two areas of Male’ City on Wednesday.

The authority in a post on X said they dispatched officers for inspection following information received to its ‘Immigration Watch’ whistleblower portal.

Immigration dispatched officers to Male’ City local market and Heenaamage parking zone; both areas that are known to attract expatriates in large numbers.

The authority checked a total of 137 from both of these areas and apprehended 25 of them.

Both the Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamman Waheed and Deputy Controller Ahmed Ashfan took part in Wednesday’s raids.

Earlier on Tuesday, the authority checked 148 expatriates from Male’ local market area and arrested 22 men and one woman for residing illegally.

The authority had inspected the local market area previously while it has received multiple reports of vendor stalls being operated and under control of expatriates.