Three foreigners arrested with 221 cartons of cigarettes on May 6 have been released by the Criminal Court.
MD Mannan Mondel, 43, Mohammad Suleiman, 42, and Rezaul Haque, 39, were arrested after they unloaded the cartons from a pickup and tried to flee when spotted by police.
They were charged with possession of stolen cigarettes. The Criminal Court freed them because no one had reported missing cigarettes while they were held in custody for 10 days.
The Criminal Court on Sunday said the three men were on valid visas in accordance with the Immigration Act.
Despite the Criminal Court's decision, police did not charge them "for stealing cigarettes."
In a message to the media following their arrest, police said the cigarettes found in their possession are believed to have been smuggled.
A carton of cigarettes usually contains 10 packs of cigarettes. This means police seized 2,210 packs of cigarettes.
A carton of cigarettes usually contains 10 packs of cigarettes. This means police seized 2,210 packs of cigarettes.
In April, cigarettes worth MVR 21 million were seized from a container imported by the airport development company.
Customs also seized a shipment of cigarettes at the Addu port. The shipment contained more than 100,000 cigarettes.
Before that, senior police officers were caught while running a network to smuggle cigarettes from the airport duty-free zone.
