Efforts are underway to shut down businesses operated illegally in the Maldives with earnings deposited to bank accounts held by foreigners, the Home Ministry has said.

Homeland Security Minister Ali Ihusan said at a press briefing yesterday that the ministry was working together with the Economic Ministry to take action against illegal businesses operating under various names.

These include both registered and unregistered businesses, the minister noted. Such businesses include those operated by a foreigner instead of the registered owner, Home Minister Ihusan said.

"After registering under another name, [they include] places that operate outside of the registry, especially with the involvement of a foreigner with Rufiyaa deposited to his personal account," the minister said.

The Home Ministry was working on shutting down such businesses and deporting the foreigners who operate them, Minister Ihusan noted.

If the registrar believes based on sufficient evidence that a business is operated with a foreigner earning profits either directly or indirectly, a law was enacted in December 2021 to allow the registration of such businesses to be terminated.

Speaking at yesterday's press conference, Immigration Controller Shamaan Waheed said 186 foreigners found to have committed crimes have been deported from the Maldives.

Immigration detained several people in operations conducted to find foreign workers who committed criminal offenses, out of whom those with valid documents and passports were deported, he said.

Immigration and police have been serially conducting raid operations two or three times a week, Shamaan said. The operations do not target any specific group, he added.

The 186 deported foreigners included 12 nationalities with the majority from Bangladesh, followed by India and Sri Lanka.

• Bangladesh: 83
• India: 43
• Sri Lanka: 25
• Nepal: 8
• Pakistan: 1
• Thailand: 7
• Philippines: 4
• Vietnam: 8
• Russia: 1
• Latvia: 1
• Brazil: 2
• Nigeria: 3

The offenses committed by the deported foreigners included visa violations and drug cases, Shamaan said.