Controller of Immigration Mohamed Sham'aan has stated that the highest priority of the Maldives Immigration is to stop businesses conducted by illegal immigrants. He made this statement via a social media post.
Sham'aan emphasised that Maldives Immigration is working tirelessly to solve the issue of illegal immigrants in the Maldives. He noted that the ongoing raid operation, conducted in collaboration with relevant authorities, will continue without interruption.
This initiative, which commenced on June 29, aims to implement the government's policies and address the issue of illegal immigrants nationwide. As part of this effort, Maldives Immigration, in collaboration with the Maldives Police Service (MPS), identified and detained eight illegal immigrants running takeaway coffee shops in Hulhumalé, Phase I.
Managing cafés, restaurants, and bakeries is among the commercial activities prohibited for expatriates. While several foreign individuals actively work in the nation, many are illegal immigrants. The government is making strategic efforts to tackle this issue and aims to expand this operation nationwide within the next year. They plan to collect information about immigrants to be easily accessed in a single database and aim to resolve the issue of illegal immigrants completely within three years.
To combat the issue of illegal immigrants, the Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology launched a special operation, Operation Kurangi. Efforts are underway by the ministry to gain the assistance of island councils, Maldives Police Service (MPS), and DNR, as conducting this operation in all islands without collaborative efforts would pose significant challenges.