JEDDAH, 6 May — The number of beggars in Jeddah is growing, despite efforts by the Anti-Begging Department to put an end to the phenomenon.
The beggars are usually found at traffic signals, in front of restaurants, supermarkets and shopping centers. The authorities have discovered that organized gangs are operating many of the apparently individual beggars, and then pooling the money.
Although the anti-begging squads have arrested a large number of beggars over the past few years, there has not been a noticeable reduction in their number. In fact, new groups of beggars are arriving to replace those that have been arrested.
On Saturday, the department arrested here another 45 beggars, including 20 children and 15 women, who originate from Asian and African countries and practiced their “profession” in Tahliah Street on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The crackdown on the beggars, with the help of the local police, took more than seven hours, during which time department officials seized currencies worth SR30,000 and a large number of ATM cards.
Saad Al-Shahrani, director of the department, told Arab News that the beggars wore Saudi clothes and walked with women and children to avoid arrest.
He added that the department has adopted new methods to end the phenomenon of begging in the city.
Patrol police recently arrested five Asian families, including 18 children, in a building in Jeddah’s Faisaliah district for engaging in beggary.
Last year, department officials arrested more than 100 children from different locations in the city.
All those detained, both girls and boys begging for organized groups in return for a monthly income, were under the age of 15.
The children, who were of Afghan or Myanmar origin, collected SR400,000 a month, while each one earned on average SR150 a day. They will be detained until their parents or sponsors come forward to complete formalities of the investigation.
The children were mostly caught begging in front of hospitals and supermarkets, but some of them begged under the cover of selling fake products at traffic lights.
Several resorted to ploys such as disfiguring their faces with colored substances or fixing bandages on their legs in order to gain the sympathy of passers-by.
The anti-beggary offices, with limited personnel, find themselves in a difficult position in dealing with the issue. Attempting to catch the youngsters in the act of begging may put them in serious danger. Seeing the security officials, the frightened children hurriedly cross the street, cutting through the speeding traffic.
It is believed that there are more than 500 such children at the various traffic points around the city. Their workdays begin early in the morning and last until well past midnight. These children are dropped at and picked up from their assigned workstations by their “masters”.
They are brought from their native countries in groups to work for a specific duration. Their parents receive their wages in advance. The modus operandi is simple: they approach drivers pulling up at the red lights pleading them to buy their merchandise, which range from chewing gums to imported electronic ware. If they fail to persuade the driver to buy, they try to evoke his sympathy.
