30 African nationals were arrested on Thursday after a
team of officers from the General Residency Affairs Investigation Department at
the Interior Ministry, Kuwait uncovered the illegal activities of a gang of five
Ethiopians operating a bogus domestic labor office through which they provide
shelter to absconding workers and then ‘sell’ them to other sponsors.
In a press statement, the Public Relations and
Security Media Department disclosed the arrest came after the officers received
information about the gang. After obtaining a warrant from the Public
Prosecution, the officers raided the suspects’ place. This led to the arrest of
30 persons — 17 men and 13 women — of various African nationalities including
Ethiopians.
Initial investigations revealed the suspects offer shelter to
absconding workers and promise to provide them with another job. They then
refer these workers to other employers who pay around KD 90 to KD 250 as
recruitment fee. They give receipts to the employers under the name of the
bogus recruitment office.
The officers also
discovered that the gang has an agreement with the runaway workers for them to
escape from the new sponsors and they will be referred to other employers. A
case was registered and all those arrested during the raid were referred to the
concerned security department for legal measures.
