New Delhi, April 23 -- India's Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Thursday asked nationals travelling to the Maldives to exercise extreme caution during their visit and warned them against carrying others' baggage. The advisory cited a spike in the number of foreign nationals, including Indians, in recent weeks and its new anti-drug laws, which last month introduced the death penalty for people caught with even a small quantity of narcotics.

Under the amended Maldives' Drugs Act, which officially took effect in March 2026, the island country has introduced stringent penalties for narcotic-related crimes, including the death penalty for anyone found in possession or importation of more than 350 gm of cannabis, more than 250 gm of diamorphi...