KUWAIT CITY, March 6:  Hawally securitymen launched Friday an intensive investigation to arrest the suspects involved in a series of thefts in Salmiya and Maidan Hawally.
Disclosing the thieves ransacked 13 commercial stores in both areas and carted away goods worth thousands of dinars, security sources said the Operations Room initially received a call about the burglary at a shopping mall in Salmiya.  The thieves have reportedly broken into seven stores and took items worth hundreds of dinars.  When the owners of these stores came the following day, they discovered the theft and immediately reported the incident at Salmiya Police Station.
Sources added the Operations Room later received information about the theft in six more stores in Maidan Hawally.  The thieves carted away some cash, clothes and other items.  Sources pointed out the two thefts occurred simultaneously, raising suspicion that the suspects in both cases are members of the same gang.  Fingerprints have been lifted from both locations and investigations are in progress to identify the culprits.
A large number of security operatives were deployed in Hawally and Salmiya Friday due to this unprecedented incident.  The heightened security measures in both areas also led to the arrest of many people wanted by law for various charges, but the search is still ongoing for the suspects in the two robbery cases.

Grocer threatened: An Asian salesman has filed a report with police against three youths who allegedly broke into a grocery store where he works and threatened to kill him if he does not give them money.
According to the salesman, the youths were under the influence of alcohol when they barged in the grocery shop and threatened him with a knife, so he had no option but to give them KD 200.  He said the suspects fled from the scene after taking the money. A case was registered and police are now looking for the thieves.