Maldives Immigration has detained a foreigner who had abandoned several Indian tourists that had booked their stay with his establishment, which was later found to be false.
After collecting large amount of money in hotel booking fees, a number of Indian tourists including children that had entered Maldives on Sunday were abandoned in the capital Male'. With nowhere to go, they were lingering on a road in with their luggages when the police attended them.
Immigration Controller Mohamed Ahmed Hussain (Hanafy) said via Twitter on Monday evening that man accused of being in charge of this fraud was brought under Immigrations custody 2:00 am that morning. A total of 27 tourists were involved in this case.
Police, Red Crescent Maldives, Immigration Maldives and well wishers helped this group of tourists in Maldives. Immigration Controller said Youth Minister Ahmed Mahloof and his wife had also assisted this group.
These tourists came to Maldives as a transit destination prior to heading to Saudi Arabia due to the travel restriction related to COVID-19 pandemic. They had paid for a guesthouse stay in Kaafu atoll Maafushi, a popular guest house island.
The government has assumed responsibility for them and have provided shelter for them as well.
Tourism Minister Abdulla Mausoom had said that bringing in foreigners without the legal documents and permits that allows for tourists to stay here cannot be considered as tourism but rather, will be considered as human trafficking.
He had added that there was a huge difference in tourism and human trafficking, and had the recent incident was an act of human trafficking.
He said he was relieved the authorities were taking action against the perpetuators of this scam.
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