Kuwait deports 194 expats in September drug crackdown

I came across this today and thought it was worth sharing properly, because the numbers are bigger than I expected for a single month. Kuwait’s Directorate-General for Drug Control (DGDC) has just released its figures for September 2026, and they show a serious push against drugs that ended with 194 expatriates deported.

If you live here, you’ve probably noticed the tone from the Ministry of Interior over the past year has been getting firmer on this. This latest batch of statistics, reported by Al-Rai daily, gives a clearer picture of just how much is actually being seized and how many people are being caught up in it.

What exactly did the DGDC seize?

The scale of the Lyrica haul stands out most. Around 725,000 pills plus 9 grams of Lyrica powder were taken off the streets, which tells you this particular drug is still a big problem in Kuwait despite years of warnings about it.

Beyond that, the list reads like a near-complete catalogue of what’s circulating here: 14.495 kilograms of hashish, 244.62 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, 5.159 kilograms of heroin, 4.308 grams of marijuana, 6 grams of unspecified chemical drugs, and 305 grams of cocaine. Two bottles of alcohol were also seized, which usually comes up in cases involving illegal brewing or possession rather than trafficking.

On top of the drugs, officers took three weapons off suspects during these operations – a shotgun, a Kalashnikov rifle, four pistols and an air rifle. That detail matters because it shows some of these cases weren’t simple possession, they involved people who were also armed.

How many people were actually arrested?

The DGDC’s breakdown shows 141 cases specifically tied to drug smuggling, trafficking and use, involving 189 accused people during September. Separately, the directorate logged 52 addiction-related complaints, which points to a side of this that isn’t about criminal trafficking at all – it’s people seeking or being referred for help with substance abuse.

That’s worth sitting with for a second. Not everyone swept up in these statistics is a trafficker. Some are individuals struggling with addiction, and the DGDC’s own figures separate that group out rather than lumping everyone together.

So who does this affect?

If you’re an expat living in Kuwait on a work or dependent visa, deportation over drug offences is one of the fastest ways to lose your residency, and these figures show it’s happening at real scale – close to 200 people in a single month. It’s a good reminder that even minor possession charges here are treated seriously, not like a slap on the wrist.

For Kuwaiti citizens, the weapons seizures and the sheer volume of crystal meth and Lyrica will likely raise questions about where these substances are entering the country from and how they’re being distributed. The source statistics don’t go into smuggling routes or nationalities involved, so I won’t speculate on that here.

Editor’s note: [EDITOR NOTE: add any personal observation about changes noticed locally around drug enforcement or checkpoints, if relevant]

It’s also a reminder for anyone on social media who shares unverified claims about crime trends – courts here have already jailed people over social media posts, so it pays to stick to official statistics like these rather than rumour.

What this means going forward

The DGDC frames this as an ongoing effort that targets both the supply side, meaning traffickers and smugglers, and the demand side, meaning users and addicts. Expect monthly statistics like these to keep coming out, and expect enforcement to stay tight rather than ease up.

If anything, the mix of weapons found alongside drugs suggests authorities are treating some of these networks as more than just possession cases. Separately, courts have recently handed down jail terms to expats in other serious cases, which fits the wider pattern of Kuwait’s courts and police taking a harder line this year.

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