Kuwait: 3,000 foreigners arrested in biggest-ever human trafficking case

Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior has issued an order to arrest 2,900 foreigners of various nationalities in the biggest-ever human trafficking case in the country’s history.

Over the past few days, the Ministry took into custody around 90 persons who confessed in the course of investigations that they had paid amounts of money to imaginary companies that signed contracts with various government agencies, so they can carry on working in Kuwait illegally, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

Kuwaiti Public Prosecution released on bail three company owners, who brought about 3,000 workers with fake work visa status to Kuwait, after investigating them.

However, one Syrian expatriate was kept under arrest as he turned out to be the mastermind and the one who attempted to complete the necessary paper work with government agencies, enabling the three imaginary companies to bring this huge number of employees to work illegally in the country.

The details of the case began to unfold when with the General Department of Residency Affairs carried out a surprise inspection in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh a few days ago.

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During the inspection, some foreigners were captured as it turned out that they were granted fake residencies through imaginary companies holding government contracts.

When asked about the reasons why they are working illegally instead of going to their designated workplaces, the detainees admitted that they had come to Kuwait using free visas after paying an amount of money in exchange for entering Kuwait and being allowed to work wherever they wanted.

The sources added that the General Department of Residency Affairs reviewed the files of the aforementioned imaginary companies, which are supposed to be the party that employed the detained foreigners, and discovered several alarming details. It found out that the headquarters of the three enterprises, located in Kuwait City, Al-Farwaniyah and Al-Ahmadi, is closed and out of service.

The other surprise was that the workers who entered Kuwait under the pretext of working for these imaginary companies exceeded the declared number, estimated at hundreds, to reach 3,000 foreigners from different nationalities. Nevertheless, they all had government contracts allowing them to come to Kuwait and work.

The officers at the General Department of Residency Affairs who investigated the foreign labourers discover that all of them are linked to a Syrian expatriate. After tracking and arresting him, the dangerous details of the case started to unfold.

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Investigations with the Syrian expatriate revealed that he was the mastermind of the scheme as he had good relations with some government officials, which helped him to make these contracts and obtain visas for this large number of newcomers.

The sources pointed out that the examination carried out by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior unveiled that the vast majority of the employees brought by these imaginary companies are mainly Pakistani followed by Bengalis and then Egyptians. Pakistani expatriates paid about 3,000 Kuwaiti dinars ($ 9,870) each.