Police implicated in cigarette smuggling as president polls generational ban

Senior police officers are under investigation over the smuggling of cigarettes from the Velana International Airport’s duty-free shops. 

A suspected smuggling network was exposed when customs officers found cigarette cartons hidden in a trash bag that a police officer carried out through the departure terminal. Yoosuf Nazeer, 38, a police sergeant, was arrested on March 25 with Ahmed Afzal, 45, who worked at the airport. But the criminal court released both suspects with conditions.

Two days later, Mohamed Aiham, 23, a soldier who worked at airport security, was arrested in connection with the smuggling attempt. He was remanded into custody for 10 days.

The police investigation has since linked two police commanders to the network, Adhadhu reported on Tuesday. The investigation found a large sum of money in the bank account of one of the senior officers. 

Nazeer, the police sergeant who was arrested in the case, was caught with 140 cartons of cigarettes, which had been smuggled out over two days with the help of duty-free staff, according to Adhadhu. 

Home Minister Ali Ihusan confirmed to Mihaaru that the senior police officers suspected of involvement in the network were under investigation. 

A cigarette black market emerged after the government banned vaping and hiked tobacco tariffs in November, driving up the average price of a pack of cigarettes from MVR 110 (US$ 7) to MVR 250.

In late January, police raided a private office in Malé and seized 104 boxes of locally manufactured cigarettes. Two weeks later, Customs canceled the registration of two bonded warehouses over 955 cases of cigarettes that went missing, seeking to recover MVR 67 million in unpaid duties.

In the second episode of his new podcast last week, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu defended the decision to raise import duties. Incremental tax increases would not solve the problem and would only benefit cigarette importers, he said, urging sellers to transition to alternate businesses.

After outlining a proposed generational ban, Muizzu polled the public for the most appropriate starting point to prohibit smoking for persons born after either 2000, 2004 or 2007.

When the poll closed on Tuesday, the results showed that a majority of voters on X and 72 percent of voters on Facebook favoured January 2000. The support for the 2000 cutoff date on Instagram was 45 percent whilst 43 percent chose January 2007.

It was the first time that a president conducted a social media poll for public feedback. 

The health ministry met with WHO and UNICEF officials on Monday to discuss implementing the ban for a tobacco-free generation. The consultation meetings continued with NGOs on Tuesday. According to President Muizzu, a decision will be made after extensive consultation with all stakeholders.