KUWAIT CITY, Aug 18: The Coast Guard General Department at the Interior Ministry has intensified efforts to protect maritime borders and combat all kinds of smuggling operations, such that marine patrols recently thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of narcotics into the country.
In a press statement on Monday, the ministry revealed that drone cameras being monitored at the Operations Unit of the Coast Guard led to the discovery of a boat with people on board who were seen getting bags from the seabed. A team whose members are from the Naval Formation Department and the Maritime Security Department was immediately dispatched to the site, seizing the boat and its occupants.
It was found that there were three people in the boat – identified as Muhammad Ibrahim Mansour Al-Manaseer, a Ministry of Interior staff member; Nasser Jassim Muhammad Al-Mulaifi, who works at the Kuwait General Administration of Customs; and Walid Muhammad Hazem Gharbia, a Palestinian. The ministry disclosed that upon searching the boat, eight tightly sealed bags containing 319 pieces of narcotic substances were found — with an estimated market value of KD1.3 million.
The ministry affirmed that no one is above the law and that it is continuing to tighten control over territorial waters, enhance the readiness of its field and technical teams to confront smuggling attempts, and protect society from drugs.
By Munif Naif
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff
