Adeeb served as the vice president of the Maldives for a brief period in 2015.
The local immigration officials became suspicious upon detecting an extra passenger in the ship.
Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, while confirming the incident, has said that the MEA is seeking to contact the Maldivian government to establish the veracity of the media reports.
"There are designated entry points through which foreigners are allowed entry into India. The entry is facilitated on the basis of appropriate valid travel documents. In the instant case, since he was not entering India through a designated entry point and did not possess the valid document, he has not been permitted entry into India", Kumar said in the media briefing.
According to a report on Times Now news portal, Adeeb was apprehended by Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials after it was established that he was travelling to the country without any valid papers required to enter the country.
Reports published in local Maldivian newspapers have stated that Adeeb is accused in multiple criminal cases, including money laundering charges and a graft case pertaining to Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC).
Although the former vice president recently had his convictions reversed by Maldivian courts in several of the criminal cases, his passport was still withheld by the country’s authorities due to the ongoing probes against him.
Relations between India and the Maldives have improved ever since the incumbent Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih came to power in 2018. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his return to power for a second term in May this year, paid his first overseas visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka as part of his government’s “Neighbourhood First” policy.
India and the Maldives signed a slew of agreements during Modi’s visit, which committed New Delhi’s assistance for the development and security of the atoll nation.
New Delhi in the past has been wary of Chinese efforts to muscle its way into India’s southern neighbourhood, especially in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
