KUWAIT: The residents of Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, an area thickly populated by bachelors, fall victim to crime on an everyday basis. The area mainly wakes up to 30 crimes per day, according to a police officer. Many of the non-Arab nationals who, in the words of one Asian resident, were subject to attacks regularly. They prefer not to report the case with the police station because they feel that it yields no results. Stories about crime circulate during family gatherings, school and community meetings.

Thomas, a Kuwait Times reader and a Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh resident yesterday decided to raise an alarm to the community and raise his voice with the hope that abuse among residents would "finally come to an end." He said that his father-in-law, a senior Indian citizen, was subject to attempted attack by four Arab youth while waiting to board a vehicle yesterday at 4:30 am.

He said that his father-in-law succeeded in escaping from the thugs. He hurried to explain that a similar incident had happened to his colleagues during the same time last week. "My father-in-law didn't report this incident to the police as he was afraid of the experience. I advised him not to go to the police station as it's a nightmarish experience," the resident told Kuwait Times. He added that another one of his colleague was attacked last week - beaten and looted. "He didn't go to the police because
of the same reason," said Thomas, the KT reader.

The lack of interest in reporting such incidents mostly owes to expatriates' poor Arabic language skills. "We don't speak Arabic well. So, communication with the police is difficult. We heard from people who were subject to attacks that filing the case in the police station didn't help them and they wished they had not reported it," he added.

Even a law-enforcement officer sees the safety situation in Jleeb as worrisome. A police officer in the Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh Police Station, on condition of anonymity, noted that there are some 20 to 30 cases reported daily about robberies and other crimes. "The problem is that in most cases, the victim doesn't know the attacker. In many cases, they register the car plate number of the criminal. In a majority of the cases, numbers are stolen (from car plates) as per previous reports. So, we then can't reach any results. Solving the problem doesn't go far," he said.

According to the officer, about 30 criminals are deported every day, "Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh is the area that shelters many criminals. "Most of the runaway maids, drivers or other laborers who have absconding reports filed against them, settle down in this area. Many become criminals," he said. "Also, many brothels and illegal international call houses are frequently raided in this area," he said. The officer, who has been working in the same police station since 1992, explained that his establishment is burdened with work. "We don't take any rest and work continuously the whole day," he said. He explained, "Many of the victims who file cases later regret filing them at all when the criminal is not caught. There is no solution to this problem. - Kuwait Times