The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have affirmed their commitment to assist the Maldives Police Service (MPS) in counter-narcotics.
The discussions were held in a meeting held at the Official Residence of the Vice President, between a delegation from DEA and AFP and Vice President Faisal Naseem, Commissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed, and senior police officials.
During the meeting, the delegation from the DEA and AFP briefed Vice President Naseem on the current activities of the DEA and provided updates from their respective regions. The DEA officials commended the MPS for its work in counter-narcotics and affirmed their commitment to assist the police service in areas such as improving the professionalism of the MPS officers in dealing with the public through further training.
Officials from the DEA and AFP presented approaches to cooperate in counter-narcotics, including providing reference materials on prevention programs developed by the institutions and assisting in conveying the seriousness of the issues to relevant embassies in order to obtain additional relevant assistance for the Ministry of Health.
The DEA and AFP officials assured Vice President Naseem they would work closely with the pertinent authorities to make the region less vulnerable to drug smuggling and trafficking. They also affirmed their commitment to assist any effort to eliminate or reduce drug-related cases in the region.
Concluding the meeting, Vice President Naseem said the policies of the administration were centered on combatting drug addiction, stopping all forms of narcotics peddling and trafficking, and providing drug-addiction treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration back into society. He reiterated that alleviating the drug abuse problem is a top priority of the administration.