Kuwait sentences police officers to 10 years for drug smuggling

Cairo: 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.