Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan has said that an overwhelmingly high number of locations where food is being prepared in unsanitary conditions have been discovered during the recent Immigration-led raids.
Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan has said that an overwhelmingly high number of locations where food is being prepared in unsanitary conditions have been discovered during the Immigration-led raids to identify expatriates living and working illegally. He assured that the authorities will bring an end to this practice.
The ongoing special operations to tackle the issue of undocumented expatriates and expatriates working against the law has brought to light another societal issue: that of the lack of safety measures in food preparation for sale.
The locations raided by Immigration uncovered expatriates working in the production of regularly sold items such as local snacks and betel nuts in highly unsafe and unsanitary locations.
One expatriate has been detained today under allegations that he has been catching stray cats from the streets and using the meat of these cats to prepare burgers and submarines and other food items, which are varieties often sold in corner shops and bought as lunch time snacks for both students and office workers.
Minister Ihusan said today that they have discovered through their operations that there is an extraordinarily high number of food preparation businesses being run by expatriates at locations they have raided so far. The Minister assured that authorities will conduct efforts to identify such places and to bring an end to this practice.
"We are conducting raids on these places daily. These operations will continue. I assure you of that," the Minister said in a meeting held today at Iskandhar Koshi with companies that employ expatriate workers.
The Minister said that the aim of the government is to resolve the issues surrounding expatriate workers within a period of three years, and expressed confidence that this can be achieved.
He said that efforts are also ongoing to offer legalization to undocumented workers, as well as deporting such persons where necessary.
On July 17, Maldives Immigration launched the 'Immigration Watch' online portal, through which members of the public can submit complaints and information regarding expatriates living illegally in the country. As of August 12, 290 cases had been lodged via the portal, further assisting the ongoing efforts by authorities.
Over 2000 expatriates have been deported in the past seven months, with 150 more expatriates conducting illegal businesses detained in the recent operations.
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