A DNA sample, kept for years, has exposed 96 fake holders of Kuwaiti citizenship, according to a media report, as the country is pressing ahead with a relentless campaign to withdraw its nationality from people who have unlawfully obtained it.
Kept by the Kuwaiti forensic department since 2017 and taken from a now-deceased man, the sample proved decisive in a suspected forgery case related to 96 citizenship holders, Al Rai newspaper reported, citing informed sources.
Investigations revealed that a man was illegally added to the dead man’s civil file and accordingly became a Kuwaiti citizen. Consequently, the latter registered others to his official record as Kuwaitis.
Later, this man fled Kuwait and failed to appear for questioning by the competent authorities in the country despite being summoned.
After his sons were apprehended and their DNA was compared to the sample taken from their alleged grandfather, it transpired that he was not their actual grandfather.
The fugitive man was found out not only to have been related to a false father, but also to have registered 34 false children on his file, the sources added.
In-depth investigations raised the number of fake citizens in this case to 96 people, in what the sources described as one of the biggest citizenship scams unmasked in Kuwait so far.
Kuwait, a country of about 4.9 million people mostly expatriates, has recently intensified efforts to combat citizenship fraud and dual nationality violations to protect its national identity.
As a result, thousands of individuals have had their Kuwaiti citizenship revoked since early last year due to forgery or holding a second nationality, which is prohibited under Kuwaiti law.
