Kuwait arrests two over fake government stamps at hospital

Kuwait has arrested an Egyptian expatriate and a Kuwaiti woman accused of selling and using counterfeit government stamps at a government hospital and misappropriating fees owed to the state, the Interior Ministry said.

The arrests were made by the Criminal Police Department following an investigation into the illegal use of government stamps at the hospital where both suspects worked.

Investigators first arrested the Egyptian expatriate, who worked as a security guard at the hospital, and found several counterfeit government stamps in his possession, the ministry said.

Information provided during questioning led police to a Kuwaiti woman employed at the same hospital. She was arrested and additional counterfeit stamps were seized from her possession.

Investigators also documented the woman allegedly completing a transaction using a counterfeit government stamp in exchange for money.

The ministry said the woman admitted during questioning to exploiting her position for financial gain by processing official transactions using counterfeit stamps while retaining genuine stamps for use in other transactions.

She also allegedly removed genuine stamps that had already been used from documents kept in storage and reused them for new transactions.

Authorities seized the counterfeit stamps and other items linked to the alleged offences. Both suspects and the seized materials were referred to the competent authorities for further legal action.

The Interior Ministry said security agencies would continue to investigate attempts to exploit government procedures for financial gain and protect public funds and official documents from fraud and misuse.