Four international call centres have been shut down in Kuwait for illegally connecting customers via the internet, the Kuwait Times reported. Police also confiscated equipment and computers used to make the calls and arrested five expatriates who had allegedly been living in the Gulf state illegally for nine years. The Ministry of Communication estimated it lost KWD 630 million in revenue during 1992 and 2006 due to illegal call centres, which allow customers to phone at much cheaper rates than provided by the state-owned telecommunications companies.