The Ministry of Interior said its Department for Combating Human Trafficking and Negative Phenomena carried out the arrests as part of the Criminal Security Sector’s operations. A Kuwaiti citizen and a Bedoun stateless person were detained in the action, which targeted possession of controlled psychotropic substances. The ministry’s statement placed the timing of the arrests on June 30, with all involved parties moved promptly into the legal system.
According to the ministry’s account, officers recovered exactly 358 Lyrica tablets during the raid along with multiple bladed weapons. The seizure also encompassed various items allegedly intended for the distribution and consumption of narcotics as well as other psychotropic substances. These materials were catalogued in full and transferred with the suspects for evidentiary processing.
The ministry referred both individuals and the collected evidence to competent authorities for legal proceedings. Such cases typically advance through specialized narcotics prosecution channels in Kuwait. The action aligns with routine enforcement patterns seen across multiple governorates in recent years.
Lyrica, the brand name for pregabalin, functions as a prescription treatment for neuropathic pain but is tightly regulated in Kuwait due to widespread abuse potential. The Public Authority for Medicines and Medical Supplies lists it among controlled substances that require special licensing for import, sale and possession. Misuse of the tablets has featured regularly in regional security reports over the past decade.
A Kuwait News Agency dispatch from June 9 detailed a parallel operation in which the Ministry of Interior seized 6,350 Lyrica capsules together with Xanax and methadone tablets from seven suspects of mixed nationalities. That action also recovered precision scales and packaging equipment, mirroring the inventory listed in Tuesday’s case. Such repeated interdictions underscore the persistence of domestic supply networks feeding local demand.
In a joint 2024 effort, Kuwaiti and Emirati interior ministries confiscated 3.75 million Lyrica tablets and arrested three people, according to official statements from both governments. The scale of that cross-border haul illustrated the substance’s role in larger trafficking routes stretching beyond the Gulf. Tuesday’s smaller recovery fits within a pattern of street-level enforcement that complements larger upstream disruptions.
