Fifty expatriates in local markets held for working illegally

Maldives Immigration and Maldives Police Service conducted a joint operation where they entered two market areas being operated in Male', resulting in discovering many stalls run illegally by expatriates.

Immigration took the undocumented workers into their custody, resulting in many stalls ending up being shut down.

The operation saw raids on two such market areas; one located on Majeedhee Magu near Villa Mart, and the other located on Ameenee Magu near TVM.

With most of the expatriates in the stalls of the Majeedhee Magu market being taken into custody by Immigration, the majority of stalls there had to be shut down for lack of an alternative person to operate them.

In the Ameenee Magu market, expatriates in all the stalls except for one were handed over to Immigration. Last night, at the time of the raid, this one stall had a Maldivian working on it, reportedly the stall's owner.

A bystander who saw the operation at the Majeedhee Magu stall said the expatriates there had been taken under Immigration's custody as they lacked documentation and hence had broken regulations.

Police Spokesperson Ahmed Shifan said that in this operation, 50 expatriates had been handed over to the care of Immigration.

"Today's operation was conducted at the Local Market, other markets being run in Male', as well as various other areas in Male'," Police said.

Although it is against regulations for foreigners to work as cashiers, it is something that is often openly done in various market stalls, cafe's, restaurants and shops.

Will be deporting those detained: Immigration

Immigration Controller Mohamed Sham'aan said that the expatriates who had been taken into custody by Immigration during last night's operation will be deported.

He said that among the fifty detained, they have now identified those working without a valid permit, and those running businesses outside of the approved line of work.

Highlighting that resolving the issue of expatriates working illegally in Maldives is a pledge of President Dr Mohamed Muizzu, Sham'aan assured that Immigration will remain dedicated to fulfilling their responsibilities in this regard.