The Cabinet has decided to make arrangements so that unskilled expatriate laborers will not be issued more than one SIM card under their name as part of their efforts in strengthening Maldives' mobile SIM card issuance regulations.

Yesterday, the President's Office publicized some of the decisions made by the Cabinet during a meeting held on Sunday, including the issuance of just one SIM card to unskilled expatriate laborers, with arrangements to be made so that the police are informed if a SIM card is lost or destroyed, and to not sell SIM cards to said individuals unless certain requirements are met.

The President's Office stated that the decision has been made so that certain procedural conditions are to be met for the issuance of an additional SIM card following a request submitted to the police.

Additionally, the Cabinet has decided to take legal and administrative action against those who have registered SIM cards and have them inserted into phones that are smuggled into prisons.

Statistics published by the Maldives Bureau of Statistics (MBS) last month shows that Maldives total population has risen to 590,079, with 196,024 of them being expatriates.

SIM cards registered under expatriates coming to Maldives seeking employment being used to commit crimes in Maldives and is a major issue. The use of such SIM cards in scam cases have become common.