Maldives Immigration on Wednesday, announced that 27 cases against three companies suspected of human trafficking were sent to Maldives Police Service for investigation.
A circular released by the authorities stated that it has suspended the alleged companies and shareholders from all expatriate-related immigration services.
The cases were forwarded on December 11.
Immigration revealed that 63,000 of the 144,607 expatriates living in Maldives under a work visa do not possess the proper documentation.
In May, the institution announced that 24 out of 67 companies investigated under suspicion of presenting falsified documents to recruit foreigners were reported to Police for human trafficking.
The current administration has taken several steps to curb undocumented migration, including a one-year ban on contracting Bangladeshi labourers which was brought into effect on September 18.
According to the US State Department's 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, the majority of 169,000 expatriate workers in Maldives work under conditions which can be considered coercive. TIP further noted that most of these individuals were of Indian or Bangladeshi citizenship and worked in the construction industry.
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