KUWAIT CITY, Jan 12: Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Border Affairs Major General Faisal Al- Senin announced that Kuwait International Airport last year registered 10,213,277 activities of passenger arrival and departure, reports Al- Seyassah daily.

A statement released by General Department for Public Relations and Security Information quoting Major General Al-Senin indicated the total number of passengers who traveled out of the country was 5,055,581 of which 1,814,941 were Kuwaitis. It noted 5,157,696 passengers fl ew to the country in the period, among them 1,807,242 Kuwaitis. He disclosed that Customs Sector at the airport issued 299,785 visas, arrested 662 people after identifying them through fi ngerprints and denied 533 people entry and returned them to the point of departure for holding fake visas. He also said fake residence visas of 432 people were canceled and concerned individuals deported along with 3,053 others.

He explained that 993 people were referred to the Residence Affairs Detectives Department for interrogation and 295 others to the Central Administration for questioning. He reiterated that 181 Kuwaitis were referred to concerned authorities and 135 foreigners banned from entering the country were arrested.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Public Works has been blamed for neglecting the collection of over 13.7 million dinars in debts payable to the national treasury, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting a recent report by the State Audit Bureau. The report held the ministry responsible for not taking the necessary steps to recover the sum before the end of last year, indicating the act violates the stipulated rules and regulations. In response, the ministry explained having exerted tremendous efforts to collect the unpaid debts recorded by the State Audit Bureau, citing 5.4 percent of the previous years’ accumulated deposits for retired employees. It disclosed collecting 94.8 percent of the debts arising from retirements within the current year, in addition to 7.2 percent of accumulated debts of companies within the past years and 18.5 percent of the debts of companies in the current year.