Kuwait court jails Nigerians seven years for armed robbery

A Kuwait court has sentenced two unnamed Nigerians to seven years in prison for an armed robbery at a money exchange office in Mahboula, in which the suspects stole foreign currencies worth approximately $14,918 and swapped licence plates to conceal their getaway vehicles.

Two Nigerians are heading to a Kuwaiti prison for seven years — and a surveillance camera helped put them there.

A court in Kuwait headed by Counsellor Nasr Salem Al-Haid on Monday convicted and sentenced two unnamed Nigerian nationals to seven years imprisonment for an armed robbery at a money exchange office in Mahboula, in the country’s southern district.

The case, filed by the public prosecution, was built partly on video evidence showing one of the suspects — wearing a hooded top — stepping out of a white car before entering the exchange office and pointing a gun at workers inside.

Peoples Gazette reported that the Kuwait General Department of Criminal Investigation in Ahmadi Governorate had arrested the pair over their alleged involvement in the January 2024 robbery. Prosecutors said the duo made off with foreign currencies equivalent to 4,600 Kuwaiti Dinars — approximately $14,918 — and also stole licence plates from vehicles to conceal the identities of their getaway cars.

The conviction adds to a pattern of Nigerian nationals facing criminal charges in Kuwait. In 2021, a Nigerian named Michael Okonko, 29, was arrested for hacking into the banking systems of the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, transferring the equivalent of Rs 5.43 crore from three clients’ accounts into 78 other accounts across various Indian states — a case that drew significant attention across the Gulf region.

The Mahboula robbery sentence was handed down after a full prosecution process that included video evidence, criminal investigation findings, and formal court proceedings.