Pakistan government officer swipes Kuwait delegate’s purse

The Imran Khan government was left red-faced on Friday when a senior civil servant was caught stealing a wallet full of dinars from a Kuwaiti delegate in Islamabad.

The Kuwaiti delegation was attending a two-day Joint Ministerial Commission meeting in Islamabad. Following the meeting, the head of the delegation complained that his wallet was missing.

Upon probe, CCTV footage showed that a grade-20 officer, a joint secretary, had stolen the wallet of the Kuwaiti delegate, slipping it inside his pocket. The officer belongs to the district management group, the top group of Pakistan’s civil service. Pakistani officials returned the belongings and apologised to the delegate.


Economics Affairs Division secretary Ghazanfer Gilani instructed the officers concerned to register an FIR against the officer who was later arrested. Legal action against him was reportedly underway. “This is a very unfortunate development that has brought a bad name to the country as well as the officers working here,” Gilani said.