JEDDAH, 23 November 2004 — After the end of Ramadan and as the Haj season nears, the beggar problem remains the same.

Despite increased patrols on the streets of Jeddah by the Anti-Begging Department, some people are begging for relief from what they say is a worsening problem.

“Six squads patrol the streets of Jeddah on a 24-hour basis to arrest those beggars,” said Ahmad Al-Mihmady, a social worker at the department. “More than 600 beggars were arrested by the Anti-Begging Department during Ramadan.”

One housewife said the panhandlers create a negative impression. “Police forces should put more effort to arrest those who take to begging as a profession,” said Sara Harun. “The number of beggars seems to increase year after year.”

“As Muslims, we have been brought up with the principle of donating and helping the needy,” said Wed Hosni, an interior designer. “These beggars abuse our goodwill and make us suspect them. It’s become hard for me to decide who is in need and who is cunning.”

Ali Salih, an accounts manager at Saudi Aramco, says that people should not encourage those street beggars because they are only taking advantage of people’s emotions and goodwill.

“People should donate their money to associations or a specialized program that guarantees that the donations reach the actual poor and the sick who really need help instead of donating randomly to a person who may be part of a begging gang, or use the donation for ill purposes,” Salih said.

“It’s impossible for these beggars to vanish,” said housewife Nora Mohamed. “Many of them have entered the country on Umrah visas and settled down here. It’s impossible to keep them under control. It will take a lot of time before we can get rid of this annoyance.”

Suzan Samir, an advertising agency employee said, “Begging and taking it as a profession is a worldwide phenomenon. Police forces around the world arrest those beggars everyday, but they never disappear, they only get replaced by one another. Putting them under control is still not a trivial issue.”

Al-Mihmady admits the problem grows every year, and that most of the beggars come in on Umrah visas but then settle down in Jeddah to cash in on charity.

“Beggary is not a social problem,” the social worker said. “It’s a security problem that all the police and security forces should cooperate even more to solve. People from the Passport Department should arrest and deport those with expired visas. It is an important problem that we all should work together to eliminate.”

Al-Mihmady urged people to donate to known charity associations or programs and balk at the beggars whose maladies likely are phony.

“Can the beggary problem be eliminated?” asked Madinah resident Abdul Aziz Al-Radadi.

“I don’t think so, but it can be reduced. The Anti-Beggary Department isn’t doing a bad job — the officers are working with the capabilities they have. They are few in numbers, and they are not getting much help from the police. On more than one occasion, I’ve seen police drive by beggars as if they don’t exist, which is wrong. Police should arrest them and shouldn’t leave it all to anti-beggary officials.”

Al-Radadi said the first line of defense may be the good people walking down the streets. “People should be educated not to give them money and instead donate through proper channels,” Al-Radadi said.

“I stopped believing these beggars and stopped giving them money because I know they are frauds,” he said.

Some of the beggars are rich frauds. “In a local newspaper, I read about a Bangladeshi beggar who earns more than SR40,000 during Ramadan,” Al-Radadi said.

“If he’s arrested and deported, he comes back the next year on an Umrah visa to work again. We, the people of this country, should not give them money because if we didn’t, they wouldn’t exist. They exist in large numbers only because we are stupid enough to give them money.”