KUWAIT CITY, Aug 10: The General Citizenship and Passports Affairs Department in the Interior Ministry, under the leadership of Assistant Undersecretary for Citizenship and Passports Affairs Major General Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah Al- Sabah, arrested 20 naturalized Kuwaitis — 19 men and a woman who are members of one family in the past few days as they were found to have obtained the Kuwaiti citizenship fraudulently, reports Al-Rai daily.

The ministry has submitted their names to the Cabinet for approval of the withdrawal of their nationality in accordance with the Nationality Law. Article 21bis A of the law stipulates: “A nationality certificate may be withdrawn if it appears to have been obtained by virtue of fraud or on the basis of a false declaration or on the basis of false evidence submitted by a witness.

Such withdrawal shall be effected through the resolution of the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of the Minister of Interior.” According to sources, 109 people were arrested in 2015 and 106 more as at August 2016.

This means 215 people obtained nationality fraudulently within 20 months. In June, a police officer of Syrian origin was stripped of the Kuwaiti nationality after the authorities discovered that his application documents were forged. The officer reportedly admitted he was well aware of the scam. Two Syrian brothers were also arrested in June and admitted that they acquired the Kuwaiti citizenship in 1970 through separate agreements with a Kuwaiti man who forged documents to add them as members of his family.