Controller of Immigration, Mohamed Ahmed Hussain has responded Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail, after he criticized the department’s decision to deport two Bangladeshis suspected of carrying out unlawful activities in the Maldives.
Minister Fayyaz, speaking exclusively on RaajjeTV’s Fala Surukhee on Saturday, said that it “would have been better” to investigate the suspects to determine those funding them prior to sending them off.
While Abu Hanif was deported on September 14, it was later revealed that he was suspected of money laundering. The second suspect, M D Shafiqul “Master” Islam was deported on September 13 and is suspected of “illegally recruiting foreigners” and conducting illegal businesses.
Responding to the economic minister’s concerns, the immigration controller told RaajjeMV that they were not informed of the extent of Hanif’s crimes when he was deported.
He said that they only learnt that Hanif had committed unlawful activities as he was about to leave the country, and that he was deported as per procedures.
Hussain said that they were only informed of Hanif’s crimes after he was expelled from the country.
He added that authorities are still investigating Hanif’s case, despite deporting him.
Furthermore, while the Immigration Department received immense backlash from the public for deporting Hanif and Shafiqul “in a rush and without an investigation,” the controller assured that they will investigate such individuals -together with the Maldives Police Service- before expelling them from the country “from now.”
Noting that the Maldives Immigration will always work with transparency, Hussain said they intend to bring a solution to the undocumented workers issue; authorities estimate that around 63,000 foreign nationals work illegally in the Maldives.
The department defended its decision earlier, and noted that it is not in its mandate to investigate the criminal activities and added that the two were deported because they violated visa rules.