The Ministry of Interior’s Criminal Security Affairs Sector, through the General Department of Criminal Investigations and Capital Governorate Investigations Department, arrested four Ethiopian nationals for allegedly targeting bank customers and stealing money from their vehicles in the Shuwaikh Industrial Area. According to the ministry, investigators used advanced technical tools and monitoring to link the suspects to multiple recent theft complaints, revealing that the gang would tail victims after cash withdrawals before striking. The operation culminated in the suspects being caught red-handed in their vehicle near a bank in Al-Dajeej after several days of targeted surveillance.
The ministry reported that the gang employed vehicles fitted with mismatched license plates while concealing chassis numbers and swapping plates repeatedly to evade detection. In one incident covered by local outlets, a Kuwaiti national was allegedly followed from a bank before KD 50,000 was taken from his car. A similar June 2025 case, as detailed by Times Kuwait, involved two other Ethiopian nationals who stole KD 1,700 from a vehicle in Al-Nuqra using a distraction tactic involving a claimed tire problem.
The four arrested individuals were identified by the ministry as Yohannes Mengiste Chali, Ramadan Jamal Yassin, Merit Tsegaye Demissie and Mikias Melesi Zerfo. Chali, Yassin, Demissie and Zerfo all confessed during interrogation to committing the thefts, the ministry stated. Legal proceedings are now advancing to refer the suspects to judicial authorities.
This action forms part of the ministry’s sustained efforts to address organized theft rings, which have repeatedly focused on areas with high volumes of cash transactions. A parallel operation reported by Times Kuwait in June recovered part of the stolen funds after tracking the perpetrators’ bus route from Fahaheel to their residence. The latest arrests underscore the use of surveillance technology in disrupting such patterns before further losses occur.
Ministry statements have consistently highlighted that security units will pursue all attempts to undermine public safety through these methods. Data compiled from prior investigations show that vehicle thefts near banks in industrial zones like Shuwaikh have prompted repeated crackdowns over the past year. The current case adds to records of four-person cells being dismantled through coordinated monitoring of financial districts.
