Kuwait busts spy cell working for Iran
Security agencies in Kuwait have busted a multi-national spy cell working for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and collecting information on vital Kuwaiti military sites and the US presence in the northern Arabian Gulf country, a local daily reported on Saturday.
The paper did not however say when the arrests occurred and there were no immediate official comments on whether it was different from the busting of a terror cell reported by another Kuwaiti daily eight days ago.
Citing unnamed high-ranking security sources, Al Qabas said that the cell included Kuwaiti, Arab and stateless Arabs (Bidoon) men and that some of them were employed in the interior and defence ministries. The paper said that at least seven men have been arrested and that the security agencies were looking for six or seven men suspected of being members of the spying ring.
According to the report published by Al Qabas on its front page, security forces raided the home of one of the cell leaders in Sulaibiya two days ago and found maps for vital sites, highly sensitive and sophisticated communications devices and more than $250,000 in cash.
The military members of the cell have been monitoring and taking pictures of Kuwaiti and US military sites and assigned to gather information about the joint exercises between Kuwait and military alliance forces.
The sources said that the members of the cell had confessed that their tasks also included recruiting members whose ideas and orientations were similar to those of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The cell members said that they had regularly visited Iran allegedly for medical treatment, tourism or making trip to religious sites and that some of them had dispatched reports about Kuwait’s political situation and domestic developments, Al Qabas said.
Last week, Kuwaiti daily Al Shahed reported that the security agencies had busted a terrorist cell that included Kuwaitis and Arabs and headed by a Yemeni national.
According to the Kuwaiti paper, the cell had plotted to target foreign interests in the region.
The security agencies stormed the house of the Kuwaiti suspect who lived in an apartment in Qairawan that he used to meet the other cell members, Al Shahed said.
The cell busting occurred as the security agencies were tracking the source of threats and secret information about attacks on Arab airports, including Kuwait airport, and other vital interests.
The paper said that the agencies were able to identify and arrest members of the cell who included Arab expatriates.
Special security measures have been taken at Kuwait’s entry and exit points as part of the plan to thwart danger, the paper said.
