Latest news with #AlQabas
Gulf Insider
23-05-2025
- Gulf Insider
Kuwait Sentences Police Officers To 10 Years For Drug Smuggling
A Kuwaiti court has sentenced two policemen and a customs inspector to 10 years in prison each for attempting to smuggle drugs. The country's Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of the three, including a firefighting officer, on attempting to smuggle 1 million banned Lyrica pills at Kuwait Airport. The defendants had been arrested by the Kuwaiti anti-drug police after receiving information that they were smuggling the substance in seven suitcases, Al Qabas newspaper reported without specifying the date of the arrests. Several countries ban dealing in Lyrica pills because of potential abuse and addiction. In recent months, Kuwaiti authorities have announced foiling several bids to smuggle drugs into the country. Earlier this month, a shipment arriving at Kuwait's Shuwaikh Port was found out to have contained 110kg of hashish that had been secretly hidden inside marble slabs. Two suspects — a Syrian national and an illegal resident with Eritrean citizenship— were arrested in connection with the bid, the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry said. They attempted to smuggle the shipment in collaboration with a person outside Kuwait identified as a Gulf national. In addition to the drugs, 6,000 Captagon pills, 5 grams of the intoxicating shabu substance, and a digital scale used in preparing and distributing narcotics were found at one suspect' house. The origin country of the illicit cargo was not revealed.
Gulf Insider
26-04-2025
- Gulf Insider
3 Gulf Nationals Convicted Over Forging Kuwaiti Citizenship
Three Gulf nationals have been handed down seven-year jail sentences each on charges of forging Kuwaiti citizenship as the country is pressing ahead with a clampdown on fake citizens. The Kuwaiti Criminal Court has ordered the three defendants – a father and his two sons — to pay a combined fine of KD 2.5 million (around $8.1 million), the value of the salaries and benefits they received from the state as Kuwaiti citizens, Al Qabas newspaper reported. The case pertains to a man, who is a Gulf national, charged with colluding with a Kuwaiti citizen to unlawfully add his sons to the latter's citizenship record under different names in 1989. Subsequently, false data were provided to the Kuwaiti General Directorate of Nationality, Passports, and Citizenship to issue passports and ID cards for them. An investigation officer told the court that the Kuwaiti man accused in the case had passed away after being involved in forging citizenship and adding Gulf nationals to his name. Investigations revealed that a total of 12 cases of forged citizenship had been registered against him. Kuwait, a country of about 4.9 million people mostly expatriates, has recently intensified efforts to combat citizenship fraud and dual nationality violations to protect its national identity. As a result, thousands of individuals have had their Kuwaiti citizenship revoked since March last year due to forgery or holding a second nationality, which is prohibited under Kuwaiti law.
Gulf News
25-04-2025
- Gulf News
3 Gulf nationals convicted over forging Kuwaiti citizenship
Cairo: Three Gulf nationals have been handed down seven-year jail sentences each on charges of forging Kuwaiti citizenship as the country is pressing ahead with a clampdown on fake citizens. The Kuwaiti Criminal Court has ordered the three defendants - a father and his two sons — to pay a combined fine of KD 2.5 million (around $8.1 million), the value of the salaries and benefits they received from the state as Kuwaiti citizens, Al Qabas newspaper reported. The case pertains to a man, who is a Gulf national, charged with colluding with a Kuwaiti citizen to unlawfully add his sons to the latter's citizenship record under different names in 1989. Subsequently, false data were provided to the Kuwaiti General Directorate of Nationality, Passports, and Citizenship to issue passports and ID cards for them. An investigation officer told the court that the Kuwaiti man accused in the case had passed away after being involved in forging citizenship and adding Gulf nationals to his name. Investigations revealed that a total of 12 cases of forged citizenship had been registered against him. Kuwait, a country of about 4.9 million people mostly expatriates, has recently intensified efforts to combat citizenship fraud and dual nationality violations to protect its national identity. As a result, thousands of individuals have had their Kuwaiti citizenship revoked since March last year due to forgery or holding a second nationality, which is prohibited under Kuwaiti law.
Gulf Insider
16-04-2025
- Gulf Insider
Fake Cop Defrauds Kuwaiti Of $120,000
An anonymous thief, posing as an anti-fraud police officer, swindled an elderly Kuwaiti out of his entire bank balance, amounting to KD37,000 (around $120,000). The thief had called the unsuspecting man, a resident of Kuwait City, and claimed that others were trying to hack his bank account, and that as a detective he was trying to help him, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba reported. The 69-year-old victim consequently provided the caller with his bank account details and other information, enabling the thief to seize his money. 'I provided the caller with my card number, as well as the PIN and the OTP number I received from the bank, ' a security source quoted the victim as saying. 'My balance was reduced to zero through a banking transaction, and I received a message on my mobile phone saying, 'Your balance is 4 dinars.'' Investigations into the case are underway. Another security source reiterated that neither local banks nor police officers contact bank customers to request information or block alleged hacking into accounts. In February, Kuwait announced foiling large-scale cyberattacks targeting telecommunication towers and banks in the country. The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry said an international ring of Chinese nationals had been arrested over involvement in the attacks. The case surfaced after authorities had received reports from some telecommunications companies and banks that their networks were subjected to cyberattacks. There has been a rise in fraud cases in Kuwait despite repeated warnings from authorities to citizens and expatriates to be on guard against potential fraudsters and their ruse, Al Qabas newspaper has recently quoted what it termed as a well-informed source. Cases related to real-estate scams top the swindle list, followed by phantom investment deals inside Kuwait or abroad, and fraud linked to luxury car purchases.
Gulf Insider
27-03-2025
- Gulf Insider
Senior Kuwaiti Official Quits Over Raffle Draw Scam
A Kuwaiti commerce official has resigned after a high-profile raffle draw fraud has been unmasked in the country, triggering public outcry and massive investigations. Undersecretary of Kuwait's Ministry of Commerce and Industry Ziad Al Najem submitted his resignation to Minister Khalifa Al Ajeel, citing 'moral responsibility', reported Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas. 'We took the necessary legal measures against the violators in the draws case without delay. Still, this heinous incident has gone beyond the limits of the ministry and has reflected a negative image among citizens,' Al Najem was quoted as saying in his resignation letter. 'Out of a sense of moral responsibility as a leader and in defence of the efforts of all loyal employees of the ministry, I submit my resignation from my position,' he added. As the scam unfolded and key suspects were made, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced forming a fact-finding committee and began reviewing all previous draws. Suspicions are rife that raffle draws linked to a famous annual shopping festival were manipulated with an Egyptian expat woman accused of winning multiple prizes under suspicious circumstances. She and her husband were detained before they could leave Kuwait. A Ministry of Commerce employee was arrested too. Investigations revealed that the woman working for a charitable committee and her husband illegally had won seven luxury cars in different raffle draws. The ministry's employee is accused of having surreptitiously taken the winning coupon from his sleeve during a recent raffle draw for a Cadillac on a TV show as part of the Ya Hala Shopping Festival. Authorities suspect the fraud ring to be more extensive than initially thought, involving individuals of several nationalities, including Egyptians, Asians, and Kuwaiti citizens. As many as 40 Kuwaitis and expats are 'under suspicion' of manipulating the draws and allocating them to specific individuals after agreeing with them in exchange for financial sums, Al Qabas has reported, citing an official source. The suspects will all be summoned for investigation. The source revealed that the Ministry of Commerce is holding round-the-clock meetings to follow up on the draws. The ministry is currently reviewing all prize draws held since 2024 and is compiling a database for all draw winners. All those who won twice in recent years' draws will be summoned for questioning, according to media reports. The case erupted in public this week after a video circulated on social media showing a person fraudulently acting during the draw. The Interior Ministry identified the person in the footage as a Kuwaiti man acting as the head of the draws department at the Ministry of Commerce. Investigations found out that he had exploited his position to systematically manipulate draws for prizes offered by companies, thus ensuring they will go to specific persons in exchange for financial benefits. Source Gulf News
