Dubai: As many as 112 beggars have been rounded up by Dubai Police so far this Ramadan bringing the total number of beggars arrested since the launch of an anti-begging campaign in April this year to 237, a senior said on Monday.
Brigadier Abdul Rahman Saeed Obaidallah, director of Naif Police station, said police have divided the city into different zones based on the concentration of beggars in an area.
“Naif is a red zone compared to other areas as it is very crowded and has many shops and residential buildings. We nabbed 67 beggars from Naif area during the campaign,” Brigadier Obaidallah said.
Most of the beggars were Asians who take advantage of the easy money during Ramadan and come here on visit visa.
“Most of them are fraudsters, they come here during Ramadan on visit visa and loiter around mosques. They claim to be businessmen while applying for visit visa,” Brigadier Obaidallah added.
Last Ramadan, police arrested 154 beggars compared to 641 in 2016.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Ali Salem, director of Infiltrators Department at Dubai Police, said that 90 per cent of the beggars follow traditional ways to beg but some use novel ways to seek alms.
“We caught an Arab couple with three children, begging near a medical centre in Bur Dubai by showing their medical prescription to people,” Lt Col Salem said.
In another incident, two Arab sisters and a two-year-old girl, were caught asking people to buy medicines for them and then they would return the medicines to the pharmacy and collect money.
Lt Col Salem said an Asian man was arrested after a number of people complained about him that he sought money from individuals to buy petrol for his car so he could reach home. “We arrested him from Al Barsha area and he told us that one person gave him Dh700. It is a way of begging and people shouldn’t be deceived by such methods,” Lt Col Salem added.
Teams from Dubai Municipality, General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) Dubai and Awqaf are also helping police to arrest beggars.
Authorities have urged people to call 901 if they find a person begging on the streets.
237 beggars have arrested in Dubai since April 29
112 beggars including 88 women arrested in Ramadan
67 beggars arrested from Naif area
SOURCE : KHALEEJTIMES