30-year-old Indian arrested in Maldives with THC in shoes
Maldives authorities arrested 30-year-old Indian national Suraj Karwar after finding two packets that tested positive for THC hidden in tennis shoes in his luggage. The Criminal Court ordered him held for five days to allow him to seek a state defence lawyer.
Thirty-year-old Indian national Suraj Karwar was arrested after a search of his
luggage on arrival in the Maldives.[1]Officers found suspected narcotics
concealed inside two tennis shoes packed in a bag in his luggage.[1]The
Criminal Court named Karwar and ordered him held for five days while the
investigation proceeds.[2]
The court said two packets recovered from the shoes tested positive for THC.[1]The order gave no weight for the drugs, while describing the suspicion as a
major drug case.[1]The court granted the short five-day period after Karwar
asked for time to seek a state defence lawyer.[1]
The case was reported amid an increase in narcotics smuggling by Indian
nationals arriving in the Maldives.[1]The country’s Narcotics Control Bureau
had expressed concern and issued a special advisory the previous month as those
cases intensified.[1]The concealment inside footwear was treated as an
attempt to smuggle narcotics into the Maldives.[2]The packets were identified
as containing THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The article gives no separate date for the arrest; 24 May 2026 is the publication and court-order date used as the incident date.
The precise place of interception is not named for this suspect; Velana Airport is named only for other cases in the same article, so the place is recorded at country level.
No weight for the two THC-positive packets was published, so no kilograms can be recorded.
No value, plant count, or additional seizure figure was reported.
The same article reports other March and May smuggling cases and a December Drugs Act amendment; those separate events and the law change are left out of this report.
No charge, trial, or sentence beyond the five-day remand for a state lawyer has been reported.
Only two contemporaneous outlet accounts were opened; no separate police or Customs statement for this arrest could be opened directly.
The Criminal Court sentenced Abdulla Faseeh to 50 years and a MVR 200,000 fine on 1 October 2026 on two trafficking counts. He had been stopped at Velana airport on 7 October 2024 with 252.17 g of cannabis and 23.60 g of diamorphine taped to his legs before a domestic flight; the court imposed life on each count, calculated at 25 years, and the terms added up to 50 years.
Customs found 3,345 grams of cannabis in the luggage of two Indian nationals arriving at Gan International Airport on 22 September 2026; police then arrested the pair plus a Maldivian recipient in a controlled delivery. Three suspects were held for smuggling more than three kilogrammes of drugs.
Police said 1,141 drug operations between 1 January and 31 July 2026 seized more than 144 kg of drugs and 1,856 bottles of alcohol, and led to 1,875 arrests. They searched 23,249 people and more than 7,300 places, opened 1,533 cases and sent 634 to the Prosecutor General; 116 foreign nationals were handed to Immigration for deportation. The figures covered all drugs and did not separate cannabis.
Maldives police and customs arrested a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man at Velana International Airport with 31 packets of cannabis on 12 January 2019 and a second 21-year-old at a home in Malé with 26 more packets. The Criminal Court remanded both to 15 days in police custody.
