Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 117

Summary: - The penalty prescribed in Article 145 of Law No. 10 of 2003 promulgating the Unified Customs Law of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council States for the offence of customs evasion. A principal penalty. The consequence thereof. It may not properly be imposed together with the penalty imposed for the more serious connected offence. The challenged judgment’s imposition of the customs fine for the offence of evasion alongside the penalty it imposed for the offence of importing narcotic substances. Rule: This Court’s jurisprudence has established that the penalty prescribed in Article 145 of Law No. 10 of 2003 promulgating the Unified Customs Law of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council States for the offence of customs smuggling is a principal penalty which may not properly be imposed together with the penalty imposed for the more serious offence connected with it, pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 84 of the Penal Code. Since the challenged judgment departed from this view by imposing upon the respondent the customs fine for the offence of customs smuggling alongside the penalty it imposed upon him for the offence of importing narcotic substances with intent to traffic, which carries the more serious penalty, despite the connection between the two offences, it erred in applying the law.