KUWAIT CITY, Sept 14: After an extensive week-long operation involving searches, investigations, and surveillance, officers from the General Administration of Residence Affairs Investigations have arrested an Egyptian mobile taxi driver for helping female domestic workers from their sponsors’ homes and aiding them to work on hourly or daily basis, reports Al-Qabas daily. According to a security source, the arrest was based on reports from concerned citizens about female workers fleeing from their homes. In response, an investigative task force was assembled to monitor areas associated with these reports, and the diligent efforts of the task force culminated in the arrest of the suspect as he was attempting to smuggle a domestic worker from her sponsor’s residence in Abu Futaira. Subsequently, he was detained and subjected to further investigation.

The source revealed that the suspect had confessed to engaging in this illegal activity for an extended period of time and had cooperated with investigators by disclosing the location of an apartment in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh where absconding workers were being sheltered. During a subsequent raid, security authorities found three runaway domestic workers. In a separate incident, officers from Residency Affairs Investigations arrested an Asian who was operating a maids recruiting agency in the Farwaniya Governorate. This agency was founded to employ runaway female workers, and during the operation, authorities found seven runaway maids on the agency premises.