KUWAIT: The Supreme Commission for Nationality on Thursday decided to strip as many as 1,647 Kuwaitis of their citizenship, the interior ministry announced, with the total number of citizens who lost their nationality topping 5,000. Decisions of the commission are sent to the Cabinet for approval, which has so far approved all previous decisions taken since the drive began in May.

The interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday the decision was taken during a meeting presided over by Acting Premier and Interior and Defense Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah. The commission has revoked the citizenship of 3,182 people in its past two meetings.

Citizenship is revoked from those who fraudulently got it and then all their descendants automatically lose their citizenship. All those who got their citizenship revoked are naturalized Kuwaitis, as the law prohibits revoking the citizenship of original Kuwaitis, nationals who or their ancestors had been in Kuwait before 1920. The interior minister said in press statements in September that none of the people appealed against the withdrawal of citizenship because the commission had strong evidence.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry announced on Thursday that it arrested 15 individuals and issued 840 traffic fines during campaigns in Mahboula and Fahaheel. The interior ministry’s public relations and moral guidance department said in a press statement that the campaigns were meant to hold accountable those violating traffic laws and also focused on felons committing several illegal acts including residency and work permit violations, in addition to possession of narcotics and alcohol. The ministry affirmed it would continue to track down all wrongdoers no matter where in the country to safeguard the country’s security and enforce the law.