Truck and Barter

New survey data indicates drug addiction is on the rise in the Maldives;

“Over 50 percent of the youth abuse drugs in some islands,” said the UNICEF report. “The most common substance abused is heroin.”

The average age when the habit forms is 12, the report said, although there were cases as young as 9 years old…

Even police records show a steady increase in the number of drug related crime. In 2001, there were 216 crimes reported, 302 in 2002, 340 in 2003, and in 2004 the amount was over twice that of its previous year: 697…

Everything in the Maldives is being affected for the worse because of the increasing number of drug abuse and trafficking. 247 ‘bullets’ of heroin washed up on Villi-Male in May 2004, which is worth over Rf 1m. If the situation was really improving, what reason would there be to find a million rufiyaa’s worth of heroin? There were over 50 sacks of narcotics buried in an underwater stash off Alifu Alifu atoll Gangehi Resort.

It is appropriate to be concerned about the extent of drug trafficking and abuse in the Maldives. There is nothing in Maldivian history remotely similar to the relatively recent discovery of over 50 tonnes of drugs. The evidence points to the Maldives being a transit location for narcotics….”