A flight of Maldivian Aero has departed from Gan International Airport with 135 Bangladeshi expatriates.

This is part of the repatriation flights conducted by the Maldivian Government and the national airline, Maldivian Aero. The airline had previously held 21 repatriation flights from Velana International Airport to Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that these flights have sent back 3700 Bangladeshi nationals in the Maldives without valid documents.

On a previous occasion, the Economic Minister, Fayyaaz Ismail, said that 95 percent of Bangladeshi nationals in the Maldives are living illegally and the government aims to send back 20,000 illegal Bangladeshi expatriates back to their country before the end of the year.