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Gulf Kuwait

Kuwait tightens border controls after some deportees return with altered identities

Country introduces biometric fingerprinting in response to ‘deportee re-entry scam’



Illustrative image.
Image Credit: AFP

Dubai: Kuwaiti authorities have discovered several expatriates who were previously deported and banned from entering the country have managed to return by undergoing plastic surgeries and forging travel documents.

In response to these revelations, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) is taking swift actions to ensure such cases do not occur in the future.

The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Talal Al Khaled, has issued directives to initiate procedures to prevent the re-entry of any expatriate deported from the country.

Beginning Sunday, the General Administration of Deportation will initiate the process of taking biometric fingerprints of every deported expatriate, irrespective of gender.

Security personnel are currently being trained to execute this fingerprinting process efficiently, aiming to counteract any potential manipulations.

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It has been reported that some deportees had resorted to procuring forged passports and undergoing surgical procedures on their fingers and sometimes even their face to alter their appearances and fingerprints.

The Deportation Department at the Talha Prison is in coordination with various embassies to ensure that those without valid passports, or those with expired ones, can be provided with the requisite travel documents for deportation.

With the prison’s capacity not exceeding 1,500 individuals, including both males and females, the frequent security raids have caused a noticeable surge in numbers.

Earlier this year, following a disturbing video clip that depicted Egyptians engaging in a brawl inside a commercial market, the Ministry of Interior took immediate action to deport the involved individuals.

Breakdown of deportees until August of this year
•     January: 2,886 (1,502 males – 1,384 females)
•     February: 2,243 (1,300 men – 943 females)
•     March: 3,275 (1,844 men – 1,431 females)
•     April: 2,460 (1,628 men – 832 females)
•     May: 4,054 (2,443 men – 1,611 females)
•     June: 3,364 (1,927 men – 1,437 females)
•     July: 3,561 (1,945 men – 1,616 females)
•     August: 3,571 (1,990 men – 1,581 females)
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