Male’, Maldives – Commissioner General of Customs, Abdullah Shareef informed that the tourist from Namibia who was arrested at Velana International Airport for possession of bullets had bullets when he arrived to Maldives as well.
Speaking to local media outlet “Adhadhu”, Shareef revealed that the investigation concludes that the tourist was in possession of the bullets when he entered the country as and that the current system was unable to notice that there were bullets in the tourists luggage.
Shareef noted that it is possible for bullets to be brought into the country without alerting a Custom’s officer from the system as VIA does not use the latest technology.
We might not see properly if we receive a single image at a place where dual image is needed. At the same time, the way he packed the bullets in could not alert the system as well.
Commissioner General of Customs, Abdullah Shareef
Noting that the Custom officers will receive a maximum of three seconds if they notice anything unusual to make a decision, Shareef stated that it is very little time.
To stop such an incident from repeating, Shareef stated that the operators of the Port must provide Customs with the proper equipment that are mentioned in the law, including scan machines that consist of the latest technology. Shareef informed that the Customs is working on obtaining the latest machines to correct the mistakes they made in the recent incident.
On July 10, Maldives Police Service arrested a 60 year old tourist at Velana International Airport (VIA) for possession of bullet. When he was presented to the Criminal Court, the court ordered to remand the tourist in custody for three days. While importing bullets and using bullets without authorization is illegal in Maldives, Police refrained from revealing the type of bullets found from the Namibian and how many bullets he had in possession.
After the remanded date ended on July 14, Police released him from custody and handed him over to the Immigration Department for Deportation.
