MAKKAH, 25 May 2006 — Passport officials in Makkah have arrested 27 Africans for begging and illegally remaining in the Kingdom.
A passport patrol unit, led by Capt. Mansour Al-Otaibi, undertook the raid in the Tandbawi area of Makkah Tuesday morning. Officials say they arrested 25 beggars with two gang leaders who managed the group. A storeroom full of wheelchairs, on rent to beggars, was also confiscated.
According to immigration officials the gang leaders provided the beggars with housing, food and other equipment like wheelchairs to help them beg. The beggars would then loiter around the Grand Mosque asking pilgrims and visitors for charity.
A spokesman from the passport department told Arab News that these people earn large sums of money through begging and that on average a single beggar earns between SR50 and SR70 a day.
The spokesman added that the money can be doubled on weekends and that during the Ramadan and Haj seasons the earnings can run into thousands of riyals.
The spokesman said the gang leaders give only a few riyals to the actual beggars and take most of the money earned.
Speaking to Arab News, one of the gang leaders said that he had intended doing a favor to the beggars by providing them with shelter, food and work.
One resident said, “Most beggars come to Saudi Arabia with their limbs intact and then have their legs, feet, arms and hands amputated. They believe that begging with one arm is more profitable than begging with two.”
The passport patrol also raided a location in Makkah where fruit unfit for human consumption was being sold at discount prices.
The passport department spokesman said that the fruit sellers were selling people death and disease.
It was also reported that rotting meat cooked in an unhealthy environment was also being served to customers in different places in Makkah.
