7-Year Prison Sentences for Kuwaiti and Indian in 'Subsidized Diesel' Case

A criminal court sentenced the main suspect in a network smuggling subsidized diesel out of the country, a Kuwaiti national working for the Kuwait Municipality, to seven years in prison. It handed down the same sentence to an Indian suspect and imprisoned four other Indian suspects for one month each, while acquitting a customs inspector, an internal affairs sergeant, and an Egyptian marketing manager.

The Public Prosecution charged the first three suspects with complicity through assistance, alongside an unknown individual, in forging a customs declaration to complete customs clearance procedures, with the aim of exporting subsidized diesel from the country, reselling it, and shipping it abroad after purchasing it from the relevant authorities.

The prosecution also charged the fourth through sixth suspects with complicity through agreement and assistance, alongside the first three suspects, in the crime of customs smuggling by preparing and filling containers with diesel for export and sale outside Kuwait.

The seventh suspect was charged with complicity in forgery, selling diesel, and smuggling it. The eighth suspect, in his capacity as a public official, was accused of forging official documents, including two customs declarations and exit permits related to the case, as well as complicity with the other suspects in forging documents, smuggling diesel, and selling it.

Earlier, the Ministry of Interior announced that the Criminal Security Sector, represented by the General Directorate of Criminal Investigations, in cooperation with the Anti-Financial Crimes Department, the Marine Ports Investigations Department, and the General Customs Authority, had dismantled an organized gang smuggling petroleum products out of the country through illegal means.

The arrest of the suspects followed information received from the General Customs Authority regarding ten containers prepared for export, contrary to the cargo description listing them as iron. It was revealed that the containers held petroleum products distributed across two customs declarations belonging to two trading companies.

Following follow-up, investigation, and inquiry, competent authorities determined that the two shipments belonged to a Kuwaiti national working for the Kuwait Municipality and his partner, a Kuwaiti national holding the rank of sergeant in the Ministry of Interior. Investigations showed that the suspects, in complicity with an Indian and an Egyptian suspect, were collecting petroleum products in the Kabd area, storing them in containers and flexible tanks, and preparing them for shipment after forging false customs declarations, with the aim of smuggling them abroad.

Upon visiting the site in the Kabd area, competent authorities discovered a factory equipped for filling containers and storing petroleum products, and arrested three Indian suspects. When confronted, they confessed to the incident, confirming that the first suspect had been running the smuggling operation for approximately eight months, at a rate of two shipments per month.

Investigations also revealed the involvement of another suspect, a customs inspector at Shuwaikh Port, in facilitating the passage of shipments through customs procedures and channels.

It was further revealed that the agricultural land in the Kabd area, used as a site for collecting and storing petroleum products, was rented from a Syrian national who had fled the country. He represented one of the companies and, according to the Ministry of Interior, had divided the land and leased it to industrial and construction companies in violation of its designated purpose, thereby securing personal benefit.