On the orders of President Muizzu, police launched a targeted nationwide drug trafficking crackdown and rounded up 97 suspects. More than 500 officers were deployed at dawn on Thursday to simultaneously raid more than 100 locations identified by police intelligence. Police claimed to have seized a large amount of drugs during “Operation Alimagu” but did not disclose details and only posted photos of minor hauls. The home minister warned drug dealers that the authorities would dismantle their networks and “make it hard to live in the country” if they persist.
The housing ministry allocated land at no cost in Villimalé and Hulhumalé for the Bank of Maldives to develop 3,000 housing units under a lease-to-own model for first-time homeowners. The housing minister called the agreement – which was signed after the central bank mandated all commercial banks to earmark up to 15 percent of their total loan portfolio to the “Inclusive National Affordable Housing Scheme” – “a concrete step towards expanding home ownership for Maldivians without sovereign debt financing.”
Maldivian operated a chartered flight to Addu City – marking the first time the national airline's Airbus A330-200 aircraft flew to the southernmost atoll – to bring government supporters to Malé for a major ruling party rally planned for Friday night. Hundreds of people arrived on boats and planes from across the country. Transport, food and accommodation for attendees is expected to cost MVR 500,000 (US$ 32,400) out of an “unlimited budget” allocated for the rally, Independent MP Abdul Rahman alleged, criticising the “waste” of funds amid a persisting medicine shortage and belt-tightening appeals from ministers. Nine flights were planned to take supporters to Malé from Addu City while the council has been unable to clean sewage junctions due to delays in processing a purchase order for a rented bowser, Mayor Ali Nizar tweeted,
Water supply was restored in Fuvahmulah but the city council raised questions about safety as Fenaka was yet to share test results. The council advised against using piped water until confirmation. Meanwhile, videos posted on social media that appeared to show Fenaka staff manually cleaning sewage without any safety equipment meanwhile prompted widespread concern. Amid the controversy over the three-day water crisis, the media dug up a 2023 performance audit that had identified major problems in Fuvahmulah's water and sewerage system, including inadequate chlorine levels (0.02 mg/L versus required standards), presence of coliform bacteria, other contamination risks from underground pipes, and 70 percent water leakage that caused MVR 4.1 million in losses.
Island Aviation contracted China's Hunan No.6 Engineering for the extension of the Maafaru International Airport's terminal building.
The government cannot manage cash flow if the wage bill exceeds the MVR 17 billion allocated for salaries, allowances and benefits, finance ministry officials told parliament's budget review committee.
The MDP expressed concern over the failure to inform the Elections Commission of planned changes to the decentralisation law ahead of the March 28 local council elections, which the party said creates uncertainty for candidates and parties. President Muizzu previously announced plans to propose amendments to abolish atoll councils and reduce the number of council members. But legislation has yet to be submitted and the EC told the party on Wednesday that it has not be briefed or consulted, the MDP said.
