Kuwait arrests 2 Filipinos accused of helping runaway maids

Kuwaiti police arrested two Filipinos for allegedly convincing housemaids to run away from their employers' homes as the Philippines' ambassador faced questions for comments about his embassy's work in aiding abused workers, authorities said today.

The arrests, reported by the state-run KUNA news agency, come as relations are tense between Kuwait and the Philippines, which sends many domestic labourers to the Gulf Arab emirate.

Already, the government of President Rodrigo Duterte has banned workers from heading to Kuwait over abuse cases, culminating in a February incident that saw a Filipina's body discovered in a freezer at a Kuwait City apartment abandoned for more than a year.

KUNA said today the two Filipinos acknowledged convincing the maids to leave. It wasn't clear what law the two men were accused of breaking, though KUNA said the two "confessed to the crime in addition to other similar offenses that had been committed in various regions of the country."