‘India’s helicopters being flown with Maldives defence personnel onboard’

Male: Weeks after India withdrew its military personnel from the Maldives, the two helicopters gifted by New Delhi to the island nation are operated regularly with an MNDF soldier onboard, a Maldivian news portal reported on Tuesday.

Adhadhu.com quoted an unnamed airport official who said that a soldier of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) “is always onboard when the helicopters are flown.”

President Mohamed Muizzu, a pro-China leader, rode to power in September last year with a pledge to remove all Indian military personnel from his country. The last of the 88-odd personnel were repatriated by the set deadline of May 10.

Two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft donated by India have been used for hundreds of medical evacuations and humanitarian missions in the Maldives. According to the agreement with the Maldives, when the military personnel were sent back, India replaced them with civilians to keep the operations of the three aviation platforms going.

“Indian military helicopters in the Maldives are regularly operated despite the removal of uniformed Indian military personnel based in the country. The helicopters are flown at least twice a week. The helicopters are flown to regulate maintenance of the aircraft,” an airport worker told Adhadhu.com on the condition of anonymity.

“When contacted about flights of the Indian military aircraft in the Maldives, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) media official said he would check and get back to Adhadhu but did not respond later,” it

said.