Court acquits one, sentences 2 to 3-year jail, hard labor in fraud case

Customs seizes 15,000 drug pills from trucker

By Jaber Al-Hamoud

Al-Seyassah Staff

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KUWAIT CITY, May 10: The Criminal Court acquitted a Kuwaiti citizen who along with two others was accused of forging bank documents — letters of guarantee. The court sentenced the first and third defendants in the case to three-year imprisonment with hard labor.

The Public Prosecution had charged the three citizens of forging banking documents (letters of guarantee) with the intention to deceive. The letters were attributed to have been issued from a local bank through which a commercial company deposited money in favor of the Central Tenders Committee. The trio expropriated KD 3,000 with this deception.

During the court session, the defense counsel of the second defendant Lawyer Fatima Al-Shatti affirmed that her client had no knowledge about the aforementioned letters of guarantee, except for the one in favor of Public Authority for Youth and Sports from a company owned by his friend.

She said her client was given the letter by the third suspect who works in the bank and usually does his transactions, and her client then gave the letter to the company without knowing it was forged.

15,000 drug pills seized:

Customs officers manning the land border crossing points recently foiled an attempt by an unidentified trucker to smuggle 15,000 drug pills into the country, reports Annahar daily.

The daily added, the truck arrived from Egypt and the Egyptian trucker was carrying a cargo of olive oil and ‘halawah’.

The daily added, when the trucker arrived at the land crossing point, he appeared disoriented and the officers suspected him and thoroughly checked the cargo.

The inspectors found hidden among the cargo the Tramadol pills. During interrogation, the trucker said he was just a carrier. He added, the pills were given to him by one of the drug smugglers in Egypt to be handed over to his counterpart in Kuwait.

The suspect and the contraband have been handed over to the General Department for Drugs Control.

55 motorists booked:

During a crackdown or violators of traffic laws and reckless motorists, the Ahmadi police have impounded two vehicles and issued 55 traffic citations, reports AlShahed daily.

The daily said this was a routine crackdown and can be seen in parts of the country from time to time.

Fire erupted in a carpentry shop measuring 500 square meters in Shuwaikh Industrial Area, causing shortness of breath to two firemen, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

Four firefighting teams, along with securitymen and paramedics, rushed to the location after the Operations Unit in Kuwait Fire Service Directorate received information on the incident. High-ranking officials were also present to supervise the fire-out operation.

Two firemen were taken to Sabah Hospital as they suffered from shortness of breath while dousing the fire.

Meanwhile, seven Egyptians and two firemen were admitted to Jahra Hospital due to the fire that engulfed a flat in AlMayer, Jahra.

Investigations are ongoing to determine causes of these two fire incidents.