By NNN-KUNA
Kuwait : The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) arrested a gang of four Arabs who seal cars, cut them and ship them to an Arab state where they are put together and re-sold.
Interior Ministry Spokesman Colonel Mohammad Al-Saber told KUNA Saturday that the gang was arrested last Sunday after a period of surveillance by criminal investigators, who found that the gang members were sealing cars and selling them at Amghara Scrapyard for low prices without documents.
The cars, each cut in half, are placed in separate containers and shipped out of the country, the spokesman explained, adding that one of the gang members impersonated a Kuwaiti citizen, thus facilitating the operations.
Colonel Al-Saber explained that some of the cars that were shipped out had outstanding fines and traffic tickets, and thus this was one way of avoiding payment of these fees.
On Jan 22, the Interior Ministry had given those with cars with expired licensing a period of three months to take care of this issue before being granted new licensing for any vehicle.
The CID also arrested a gang found to redirect electricity from a general transformer unit to supply buildings under construction with power using forged license documents.
Al-Saber said that the gang was arrested on Jan 25 after a citizen overseeing the construction of a private building in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh notified the police that an individual, claiming to be an electrical engineer, offered to supply the building with power and to “quickly” complete procedures at the municipality and electricity ministry in return for KD 12,500 (US$45,745).
The spokesman said the authorities asked the citizen to pretend to agree to this arrangement, and the gang, comprising Arab and Asian nationals, arrived at the scene and were arrested while engaged in digging and laying the electrical cable.
The engineer impersonator confessed to redirecting electrical power from the transformer and conning citizens through forged documents that showed that all formalities were in order.
Colonel Al-Saber pledged, in the name of the Interior Ministry, to continue to exert efforts to maintain the security of citizens, calling on them to notify authorities of any suspicious actions they witnessed.