Four years since Kuwaiti went missing in Romania

Kuwait exploring every possible effort to know his whereabouts

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti businessman Mohammad Al-Baghli has been missing in Romania for more than four years despite efforts by government and private institutions to know his whereabouts. Since his disappearance in a Romanian village on August 5, 2015, authorities in the State of Kuwait have been exploring every possible effort to know his whereabouts. However, all bids have so far failed. His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah instructed the foreign and interior ministries to do whatever they could to search for Baghli hand-in-hand with Romanian authorities. It has been over 1,500 days since the disappearance of 83-year-old Baghli, and concern of his family and friends is growing over his health and fate.

Kuwaiti and Romanian media have shed light on ordeal of Baghli, a matter that triggered a campaign on social media. However, more needs to be done either in Kuwait or in the European country. Riyadh, Mohammad Al-Baghli’s son, has been using all media means, especially Twitter, to keep the cause of his father alive and to remind the public about this crisis. Riyadh posts almost daily tweets to exert some kind of pressure on Romanian authorities to know whereabouts of his father. “Father, we miss you... today marks 50 months since your disappearance in Romania and we pray for Allah for solace for you and us... We hope official efforts contribute to resolution of humanitarian issue and to exercise pressure on relevant authorities in Romania,” said Riyadh in one of his tweets.

Riyadh also posted, last May, a link of a documentary produced by his family in Romania, which showed Kuwaiti and Romanian media talking about his father. The documentary marked 1,461 days of Al-Baghli’s disappearance. “We are experiencing a real crisis that is hard to explain, and I have not lost faith that my father will one day return,” Riyadh said in a statement to the press yesterday. “We did not expect his disappearance to last beyond two or three days, or even a week... but to be four years, this is beyond imagination,” he said. Riyadh thanked the official Kuwaiti authorities for their relentless efforts to search for his father, who used to spend his summer vacation with his family in the Romanian village of Cheia in Prahova County since 1993. He urged the Kuwaiti government anew to exercise pressure on the Romanian authorities to speed up the search for his father.

This photo provided by Al-Baghli’s family shows Mohammad Al-Baghli (left) with his son Riyadh (right) and his granddaughter.

—By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Authorities found $300,000 in cash hidden in a detergent box with an Iraqi passenger who attempted to smuggle them to his home country. Customs officers found the cash with the passenger while searching a bus, before the man was taken for questioning for failure to declare possession of it. The money was sent to the relevant authorities for further action.