Maldives arrests 80 Bangladeshis in crackdown on undocumented migrant workers

The immigration authorities in Maldives have arrested 80 Bangladeshis in a crackdown on undocumented migrant workers.

In a Twitter post, Maldives Immigration said  the operation to detect the undocumented expatriates in Male on Tuesday was the first one of the year.

The immigration status of the expatriates was checked on site, and 80 were brought for “further screening”, it added.

Maldivian online media RaajjeMV, quoting the immigration department’s media official, Hassan Khaleel, said the operation was held in the capital "after multiple complaints from the public”.

Khaleel confirmed to RaajjeMV that the 80 individuals, all from Bangladesh, were under arrest and being held at the detention centre in Hulhumale.

They "did not have the proper documentation, hence identities were unconfirmed”, he told RaajjeMV.

The immigration department was completing the necessary procedures to deport them out of the country, according to the report.

The Maldives has total 144,607 expatriate workers and 63,000 of them are undocumented, Immigration Controller General Mohamed Ahmed Hussain said in January, the report said.

The department launched a year-long operation in January "to minimise the undocumented migrants", it added.