Kuwait Coast Guards Shoot Dead Suspected Iranian Smuggler

Kuwaiti coast guards shot dead on Monday a suspected drugs smuggler as they chased a boat in the emirate's territorial waters, the interior ministry said.

The ministry did not reveal the identity of the dead man but a security official told Agence France Presse that he was Iranian.

The ministry said that at dawn on Monday a Kuwaiti coast guards patrol spotted a boat inside the emirate's territorial waters and ordered it to stop by "firing warning shots".

After a brief chase, the boat stopped and the coast guards found that one of the two men onboard had died of gunshots, the ministry said. The coast guards arrested a second man present on the boat who was unharmed.

His identity too was not known immediately.

The ministry also said that an unspecified amount of what is believed to be hashish was found on the boat.

Kuwaiti coast guards regularly intercept Iraqi and Iranian boats allegedly carrying smugglers or fishermen for infiltrating the Gulf state's territorial waters.