The Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced that its teams, working alongside Shuwaikh Police Station, tracked a container stationed in open parking areas during an intensive inspection campaign in the Shuwaikh industrial zone. A subsequent raid revealed the storage of used tires along with equipment and materials for cleaning, renewing and reconditioning them to resemble new or higher-quality products. The ministry stated that the scheme appeared designed to deceive consumers and violate commercial regulations in place to protect buyers from substandard goods.
Following the inspection, the ministry recorded all pertinent legal violations at the site and referred the full case to competent authorities for thorough investigation and any resulting legal measures. This operation reflects the ministry’s ongoing campaigns to monitor industrial areas for compliance with consumer protection standards. A ministry statement emphasised that such practices undermine market integrity and expose the public to unsafe products.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has carried out multiple comparable inspections in recent years, including a 2025 campaign that uncovered another warehouse engaged in refurbishing used tires for resale, according to earlier ministry reports. Those actions formed part of a sustained push against deceptive trading methods in key commercial districts. Data from the ministry’s prior efforts indicate that industrial zones like Shuwaikh remain focal points for these types of violations.
Refurbished or reconditioned tires frequently lack adequate tread depth and structural reliability, increasing the risk of reduced grip especially on wet or oily surfaces, a Continental Tires assessment of the Kuwaiti market found. The ministry has warned in previous statements that such fraud directly threatens road safety and can contribute to accidents. Officials continue to stress the need for rigorous enforcement to prevent these hazards from reaching consumers.
Kuwait maintains one of the largest tire disposal sites globally at Sulaibiya, where more than 40 million vehicle tires accumulated over 17 years, according to environmental monitoring reports on national waste management. This scale of discarded tires has underscored broader challenges in proper recycling and disposal, potentially fueling incentives for illegal refurbishment operations. The latest raid forms part of regulatory steps aimed at addressing both the commercial deception and associated environmental pressures.
In a separate campaign concluded earlier this week, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry seized approximately 11,000 counterfeit items including clothing and accessories while closing eight shops, a ministry announcement on Tuesday reported. Those joint operations with the Ministry of Interior targeted violations of intellectual property laws and consumer safeguards across multiple sectors. The ministry indicated that inspection teams would maintain heightened vigilance in industrial and commercial areas to uphold regulatory compliance.
