Kuwait: 18 travel ban orders given to wanted expat

Cairo: Kuwaiti police have arrested an expatriate against whom 18 travel ban orders were issued in connection to fraud cases, according to a media report.

The 41-year-old expatriate, whose nationality was not given, is wanted to pay nearly KD14,000 ordered by a court ruling, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba reported.

The man was arrested in an apartment in Kuwait City, a security source said.

Under a final verdict, the defendant has to pay KD13,962 in a case of a bounced cheque, the source added.

Additionally, he is wanted in connection to 18 travel ban orders and other debts owned to companies for which he had given bounced cheques, the source added.

The case surfaced as Kuwait is pressing on with a security clampdown on illegal residents.

Kuwaiti Interior Ministry has said more than 1,400 more foreigners had been rounded up in a nationwide crackdown on violators of the country’s residency law.

The ministry has vowed to continue the clampdown across Kuwait and urged the public to report about the illegals and outlaws.

The crackdown got underway after an amnesty deadline for illegal residents expired on June 30.

More than 65,000 such expatriates in Kuwait benefitted from the three-month deadline introduced earlier this year for unlawful residents to readjust their status or face deportation, Chief of the General Directorate for Residency Affairs at the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry Brig Yussuf Al Ayub has said recently.

He added that expats arrested after the expiration of the deadline are deported from the country and will not be allowed to re-enter it. Sponsors of the violators would be blocked from recruiting overseas workers.

Foreigners make up 3.3 million of Kuwait’s population of 4.9 million.