Police have said that the drugs found in the body of a deceased man were removed at the cemetery because of decomposition.

The 40-year-old Nepalese man arrived in the Maldives on November 26 with two others. But police said the other two men fled the country on the same day.

His body was found in a guesthouse in Hulhumale' on November 30. A scan revealed that drugs were inside his intestine.

Police said they followed advice from the Prosecutor General's (PG) Office by removing the drugs from the body at Hulhumale' cemetery.

This was done on December 2 with the advice from a specialist doctors' team and with the assistance of a doctor without taking the body to a medical centre.

"It was not performed at a health facility because the body was too decomposed for such an operation," the police said.

A total of 78 bullets weighing 818 grams were removed from his body.

There were no signs of injury on the man's body. Police said the discovery of the drugs was not publicly disclosed due to the ongoing investigation.