Court jails customs officers, citizen for ‘stealing’ tobacco from Air Cargo Dept

The Criminal Court has sentenced three customs inspectors and a Kuwaiti citizen to five years in prison with hard labor and ordered the dismissal of the inspectors from public service.

The charges included dereliction of duty and the unlawful appropriation of seized goods. The court also ordered the confiscation of the ‘stolen’ items and imposed a fine of 19,530 dinars — double the market value of the goods.

The case came to light after investigations revealed that the ‘suspects’ had misappropriated a quantity of seized tobacco from the Air Cargo Department of the General Administration of Customs and transferred it to the apartment of their accomplice, the Kuwaiti citizen, in preparation for its illegal sale.