Police say 65 cases have been reported to the hotline set up to track illegal foreign exchange transactions in the country.
In a statement, the Police said the cases include information about 27 foreigners involved in illegal dollar sales, 18 places where dollars were minted without permission, and four places where dollars were being sold at high prices.
Police also said it had received information about 16 online platforms that have been illegally selling and buying dollars.
They said that based on information received through the hotline, they have arrested one foreigner and handed the person over to Immigration Officials.
Police added that they were further verifying the information from the hotline and checking the places and people reported for illegal dollar sales.
The operation aims to weed out illegal dollar traders in the country to further bolster the Maldivian foreign currency reserves, as a shortage of US dollars has wreaked havoc in the daily lives of people across the country. Local banks have restricted online purchases from abroad with a daily limit set on purchase on major e-commerce sites like Temu, Shein, and Ali Express.
