KUWAIT: Vehicles impounded during a traffic police crackdown

KUWAIT: Detectives arrested 87 illegal residents, the Interior Ministry's relations and security media department said yesterday. The arrests came after detectives were tipped off concerning a residence harboring a large number of illegal residents and absconders involved in various illegal activities such as immorality, human trafficking, selling alcohol and detaining people against their will. Upon raiding the place, 31 absconding expats of various nationalities were arrested, and all of them had article 20 visas (domestic helpers). The suspects said that they had paid money to get residency visas without working for their sponsors. This operation comes a few days after police arrested a human trafficking ring led by a Ugandan national who smuggled women from Sierra Leone to Kuwait. In another inspection campaign along Wafra highway, residency detectives arrested 56 people in violation of residency laws who were selling agricultural products.

Traffic crackdown

Traffic police cracked down on reckless drivers and racers along Gulf Road, Maghreb Expressway, Second Ring Road and Jahra Road, said security sources, noting that the campaign was led by the traffic directorate's acting director Maj Gen Fahd Al-Showayye and lasted for six hours, starting from midnight. The sources added that the campaign, that included 50 police patrols and 117 officers and policemen, resulted in arresting 46 motorists for reckless driving and racing and detaining six bikes and 65 vehicles.

Policeman insulted

An Egyptian woman in her thirties was arrested for insulting a traffic policeman on duty who was investigating a traffic accident. Security sources said the woman kept shouting when taken to Nugra police station and posted photos she took of another officer on her Facebook account, before she assaulted a female investigator. The officer said that the woman approached while he was examining the accident although she was not part of it, and when he asked her to leave, she argued with him, and was ticketed for obstructing traffic. Taken to the station, she recorded a video at the police station including the investigating officer and posted it on Facebook. She also kept screaming after her mobile phone was confiscated. The woman is facing multiple charges of blocking traffic, insulting an officer on duty, assaulting another and slandering the state and its laws.

Fatal crash

A Bangladeshi man died in an accident reported yesterday in Abdali. The man's vehicle had collided into a lamppost near farms in the area. He was rushed to Jahra Hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries. An investigation was opened to determine the circumstances which led to the accident.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun