In a bizarre development, Yemen’s Shiite Houthi group has resorted to beggary as a means to raise funds in Saudi Arabia. It plans to spread panhandlers’ gangs in different parts of the Kingdom, reliable sources told Al-Hayat daily.

According to the plan, followers of the Houthi group would be smuggled into the Kingdom through the southern borders, which are adjacent to areas under the rebel group’s control, and spread out in the provinces and regions as beggary gangs, the sources said. These gangs will play on the sympathy of residents and citizens to collect large sums of money, the sources said.

The Houthi followers also plan to use “forged” documents and “fabricated” impairments to further their illegal cause. They would be stationed near mosques and public places to carry out their unholy mission.

Houthi followers already present in the Kingdom would conceal their money transfers and take a series of steps to protect their group from Saudi security organs, the sources said.

According to the daily, the Ministry of Interior has been tracking down infiltrators from the southern border through intensive security campaigns for the past couple of months.

It has deported some 267,000 Yemenis in violation of the Kingdom’s labor and residency laws since the end of the correction period and another 100,000 infiltrators were chased back across the border into Yemen, the sources said.

The Houthi group is officially listed as a terrorist organization in the Kingdom.