Individuals who sold used cooking oil had no visa, released person had a Marriage Visa

It has been revealed that the four expatriates who were arrested for the sale of used cooking oil discarded from resorts do not have a visa, with one expatriate being released due to them having a Maldivian Marriage Visa.

The Police had stated yesterday that they conducted an operation and arrested five Bangladeshi's for loading oil jerry cans onto a pickup truck from a dinghy that was docked at MPL container jetty after receiving an anonymous tip. The Criminal Court ordered a sentence of 10 days of imprisonment against four of the five Bangladeshi's.

As per the court order, the individual that was released on conditional bail is 43 year old Bangladeshi Mohamed Haroon. He was released on conditional bail due to getting a valid Marriage Visa after marrying a Maldivian, as was stated in the court order.

The court order reads that during the remand hearing, it was stated that Mohamed Haroon is a pickup truck driver and was released on conditional bail after the others accused in the case had made statements supporting him being a pickup truck driver.

The other individuals who were arrested are Al Amin Boyati, Dulal Miah, Mohamed Rasel Miah and Manwar Hosein. The court order states that they do not have a valid visa and they are in violation of the rules and regulations of Maldives Immigration.

The Police said that they had found 46 jerry cans  of oil that had been discarded after use in resorts through the search of a marine vessel, the dinghy and a pickup truck.

There are recurring allegations that discarded oil from resorts are reused at cafe's and restaurants in Male'.

The Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA) released a statement on 30th October warning the public against using discarded cooking oil from resorts, saying it may be contaminated with traces of non-halal food and is unsafe for consumption.