Kuwait scrambles to nab terror convicts
Intelligence gathering expanded as border security checks tightened
Kuwait has mobilised its security agencies to track down the 16 terror convicts who had disappeared after the Cassation Court ruled they were guilty and sentenced them to jail terms.
Although a newspaper report said that 14 of the convicts had fled to Iran after they were smuggled out via small boats to an Iranian vessel in international waters, the Kuwaiti authorities are exerting extraordinary efforts to locate them in the country.
The fingerprints of the 16 convicts in the Abdali terror cell case were provided to all border police checkpoints to help them identify them in case they attempted to flee the country using fake Kuwaiti or foreign passports or bogus identities, Kuwaiti daily Al Rai reported yesterday.
“All border staff have been told to be extra vigilant and to follow the strict procedures in suspicious cases by referring suspects to the security authorities at the checkpoint or using the digital fingerprints,” a security source told the daily. Another Kuwaiti daily, yesterday reported the state was also relying on military intelligence services in its endeavours to arrest the convicts.
Sources told the daily that the government would not rush into revoking the citizenship of the convicts as suggested by some lawmakers.
The government does not want to lose the opportunity to repatriate its citizens in case the convicts were arrested abroad, the sources told the daily.
No emergency session will be held by the parliament to discuss the terror cell and the stance vis-à-vis Iran and Hezbollah, both accused in the case of intelligence and cooperation with the convicts.
“There will be either a session in the next parliamentary term or a meeting of the foreign affairs committee during the summer holidays to be attended by the foreign minister,” the sources added.
As lawmakers pressed for the prompt arrest of the convicts, MP Khalid Al Shatti called for an alliance with Turkey and the use of some of its troops following the escalation with Iran and the instability in Iraq.”
On Thursday, Kuwait asked the Iranian embassy to reduce the number of its diplomats from 19 to four.