Kuwait Customs Tightens Checks as Seizures of Fake Goods Rise

If you’ve flown out of Kuwait International Airport lately with a wad of cash in your bag, ordered a ‘branded’ handbag online, or picked up a few extra cartons of cigarettes on your last trip, you’re exactly who Kuwait Customs is talking to right now.

Saleh Al-Omar, Vice President of Customs Ports Affairs, Research and Investigation at the General Administration of Customs, has been explaining why seizures at Kuwait’s airports, seaports and land borders have been climbing. His answer might surprise you: it’s not because smuggling is getting worse. It’s because customs officers are simply getting better at catching it.

So why are seizures going up?

Al-Omar put it plainly: customs is trying to strike a balance. Protect the country and the public from dangerous or illegal goods, while still letting legitimate trade and travellers move smoothly through Kuwait’s ports.

He said the counterfeit problem has grown well beyond fake designer clothes and leather goods. Officers are now finding counterfeit medical supplies and cosmetics too – products that can pose real health and safety risks if you don’t know what you’re putting on your skin or in your body.

To catch these, inspectors check shipping documents, the declared country of origin, and the declared value of goods. That’s combined with physical inspections, investigations, risk assessment, and information-sharing with local agencies and international bodies including Interpol. Al-Omar said a single suspicious case found during a routine check can often open the door to a much bigger investigation – sometimes uncovering an entire smuggling network.

If you shop online often, this is worth remembering: as we’ve covered before in our piece on an online phone scam that cost a Kuwait shopper KD 200, it pays to check who you’re buying from and what you’re buying before you pay. Al-Omar’s advice goes further – he’s urging shoppers and importers to check whether the product they want is even allowed into Kuwait, and whether it needs prior approval from a government authority, before they click ‘buy’.

What you need to know about declaring cash

This is the part that catches out a lot of travellers, especially those sending or carrying large sums of money for family back home or for business. If you’re entering or leaving Kuwait with cash or negotiable financial instruments worth KD 3,000 or more, you must declare it through the Sahel app or the Sahel website. There’s no way around it – it’s mandatory, as we explained in our earlier guide on declaring cash above KD 3,000 in Kuwait.

Al-Omar’s advice is simple: hold onto your paperwork. Bank withdrawal receipts, currency exchange records, anything that proves where the money came from and that it’s really yours. If customs has questions, that paperwork is what clears things up quickly.

He also told travellers to check the declaration rules before they even leave home, and to use the red channel at customs – the one for people declaring goods – rather than the green channel, whenever it applies to them. Not knowing the rule, he said, doesn’t protect you if you break it. Customs offices at the airport are there to help travellers through the declaration process if they’re unsure how it works.

It’s a timely reminder given how often large undeclared cash sums make headlines elsewhere – we reported in October on two travellers caught hiding $1.67 million in cash at an airport, a case that shows just how seriously customs authorities worldwide now treat undeclared money.

The 53,000 cigarette cartons

One case Al-Omar highlighted stood out. Customs officials confiscated 53,000 cartons of cigarettes in a single shipment at the Al-Salmi border crossing. That’s a scale far beyond someone simply bringing in a few extra packs for personal use.

Al-Omar said cigarette smuggling has shifted from individuals carrying small amounts to organised commercial shipments, built to exploit the price and tax differences between countries. He reminded travellers that the legal allowance is just two cartons of cigarettes per person. Anything more than that, and you’re in violation territory – no matter how it’s packed or declared.

Travellers should also remember Kuwait’s rules on luggage more generally. As we noted in our earlier piece on why you shouldn’t carry bags for other people at Kuwait Airport, you are responsible for what’s found in your own luggage, even if someone else packed it or asked you to carry it.

Al-Omar explained that each type of customs port uses equipment suited to what passes through it. Airports focus on passenger luggage, air cargo and postal parcels. Seaports focus on containers and bulk goods. Land crossings focus on travellers, trucks and vehicles. But he was clear that technology is only part of the picture – trained human inspectors remain central to catching violations that machines alone would miss.

What this means for people living in Kuwait

For residents and citizens alike, the message is straightforward. If you travel in or out of Kuwait regularly, know your declaration limits and keep your financial paperwork in order. If you shop online, especially for cosmetics, medical products or branded goods, check Kuwait’s import rules before you order, not after it arrives at customs. And if you’re bringing cigarettes back from a trip, stick to the two-carton limit – customs is actively watching for commercial-scale smuggling, not just checking the odd extra pack.

More local news from Kuwait covers how these rules play out for everyday residents, from traffic to customs to visas.

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