Security personnel interrogating an imprisoned Kuwaiti were surprised at the tranche of information on criminal activities that he revealed, while admitting to his crime of impersonating members of the ruling family, top officials and other personalities.
The disclosure by the inmate led security sources directly to nine people involved in cases of fraud, money laundering, and other offenses. Of the nine who have been arrested and detained for interrogation, four are Kuwaitis, two are Egyptians and one is an Indian. Two others in the same gang, a Kuwaiti and a Syrian, who are absconding and believed to be outside the country, are being monitored and are expected to be taken into custody upon their return to the country.
Ministry of Interior is understood to have opened a secret investigation into the incident headed by Assistant Undersecretary for Correctional and Enforcement Institutions, Major General Farraj Al-Zuabi, and the inmate who has been ‘spilling the beans’ on the activities of fellow criminals has been kept confined in a secret location. Security officers were further surprised when a senior politician, as well as several leading personalities, approached the ministry in a bid to gather information on the status of the prisoner and to learn what he has divulged so far.
It has been reported the investigating authorities have collected evidence from surveillance cameras installed inside the prison to know the most accurate details about the case and know the identity of the people who visited the suspects inside the prison.
Security sources said the accused’s life over the past four years has been filled with crimes of money laundering, fraud, forgery and swindling. He has reportedly sold fake air tickets worth KD150,000; carried the forged civil ID card of a well-known businessman and a fake passport.
Besides charges of impersonating members of the ruling family and prominent businessmen he is also charged with several instances of money laundering. Investigations into the case have also revealed serious security breaches and chaos in prisons.
Despite the ongoing efforts of the Ministry of Interior to reform prison conditions, investigations revealed that prisoners benefit from complicity within the prison that allows them to do what they want in return for money. The sources added prohibited items change hands very easily and this includes mobile phones and many kinds of items that are on sale in the jails, including narcotics such as heroin, cocaine, cannabis and narcotic tablets.
The security authorities are coordinating efforts with the Communications, Engineering, Information Systems and the Prisons Sector departments to implement a project that will block all communications and telephone coverage from the prison complex, making the smuggling of mobile phones into the facility useless.
