THREE men accused of faking Covid-19 test results have claimed that they were duped by an expatriate man.
The Kuwaitis, aged 19, 20 and 21, appeared at the High Criminal Court yesterday for the first time to deny fraud.
They have been accused of using fake documents to travel to Kuwait via King Fahad Causeway.
The men were arrested on September 9 by Saudi authorities after customs officers scanned the QR code on their RT-PCR reports. They found that the documents were fake and handed them over to Bahraini authorities.
However, the defendants said that an Indian man – who claimed to be a Health Ministry employee – offered to help them take a nasal swab for BD20 each.
The 19-year old Kuwaiti university student described how he and his co-defendants were allegedly duped by the expatriate.
Conned
“I was travelling back to Kuwait with my two friends (co-defendants) when we met him (the expatriate man not standing trial in the case) at Exhibition Avenue,” the 19-year-old said in his statement to prosecutors.
“We were looking for a hospital and he told us that he was a Health Ministry employee.
“He took BD20 from each of us as fee for nasal tests.”
The man allegedly refused to give his mobile number to the defendants and told them to meet him at the same location for their results.
This is the second time in less than a week that people accused of faking their Covid-19 test results have pinned their blame on an unknown expatriate.
The GDN previously reported that a 21-year-old Kuwaiti university student and two Bahraini women, aged 22 and 30, who are standing trial at the High Criminal Court in connection with a similar incident had claimed that they were conned by an expatriate man and a woman who posed as a nurse.
They were also apprehended on the same day the Kuwaitis were arrested.
Both cases have been adjourned until Wednesday for review.
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