A man has been arrested for smuggling drugs into the Maldives by air.

In a message to the media, the police said that Ahmed Ahsan, 35, S. Hithadhoo was arrested from Velana International Airport on September 16 in connection with the case.

He was produced before a local court which remanded him in police custody for five days.

According to Maldives Customs, he arrived in the Maldives on a Malaysia Airlines flight and 578 grams of drugs were recovered from his possession. These included 48 grams of heroin, 215 grams of synthetic cathinones and 315 grams of meth.