Man held for using children to beg in Dubai

Dubai: A man who used two children for begging and another man who pretended to be someone with no arms were among 35 beggars arrested by Dubai Police.

The police arrested the beggars in the first 14 days of their anti-begging campaign, an official said on Wednesday.

Tourism Security Department said out of the 35 beggars, 26 were men and seven were women.

Last year, 1,405 beggars were arrested, 1,166 men and 239 women, of which 321 were arrested during Ramadan.

Of the 321, 248 were men and 63 were women.

The campaign, which started on May 24, will educate the public on risks posed by begging.

The campaign is in coordination with the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigner’s Affairs, Dubai Municipality and the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department.

“A task force of 21 officers has been assigned to handle this campaign,” he said. “They will be patrolling the city while receiving tip-offs from the public in order to curb begging in the city. Security will also be tightened around places where we find begging to be most prevalent.”

He said that the people can call the task force directly on 052 210 6969. People can also report beggars to 800CID (800243).

Adding that beggars keep coming up with new ways to elicit people’s sympathy.

One of the people they arrested, was an Arab who was using two children to beg. When the police stopped the two boys, they denied being beggars. They were later caught begging in another area.,

An Asian man tie up his forearms and wore a loose shirt to give the illusion that he had lost his arms, so people would pity him. He was also arrested.

“Social media is also being used by beggars which makes it harder for us to track them. They may trick people by asking for money for simple things like schoolbooks for their children, and spectacles. People should be wary of falling for such ruses and report to us through our hotline immediately.”

People wanting to donate or give alms, should do so through official charity organisations in the country. “There are a number of organisations in the country that handle the distribution of donations to the poor. Through those organisations, we can be sure the money is being used for good causes. We cannot say the same for beggars.”

Adding that begging is punishable by law, however, if someone caught begging is found to be in real need, they direct them to a charity organisation.

“In such incidences, the case remains open until we can throughly verify the person’s background,” he said, “if we find out they’ve been lying about their condition, they will be formally charged and deported.”