Kuwait: Expat sentenced in absentia to 14 years in drug case nabbed

Cairo: Kuwaiti police have arrested a wanted illegal expatriate who had been sentenced in absentia related to a drug trafficking case, a local newspaper reported.

The man had been arrested at a security checkpoint at the Sabah Al Nasser suburb in Al Farawniya governorate, south of Kuwait City, initially for violating the country’s residency law, a newspaper quoted a security source as saying.

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After checking the Interior Ministry’s computerised records, it transpired he is wanted to serve a 14-year sentence handed down to him for dealing in drugs.

It was not immediately clear when the verdict was delivered, or what the nationality of the convict is.

Kuwait has recently toughened measures against illegal foreign residents and warned that any expatriate sheltering an unlawful resident will be deported too.

Last September, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported that police had arrested an Egyptian expatriate who had lived illegally in the country for around 25 years.

The man was arrested during a security campaign in the area of Al Mutla in Al Jahra governorate in western Kuwait.

Illegal residents in Kuwait are estimated at 150,000.

Kuwaiti individuals or companies employing illegals face charges of unlawfully sheltering and covering up illegals.

Foreigners make up around 3.2 million of Kuwait’s overall population of 4.8 million.

The country is seeking to redress its demographic imbalance and replace foreign workers with its citizens as part of an employment policy dubbed “Kuwaitisation”.