Over 3,500 beggars nabbed in 3 months

The Jeddah police recently launched a massive operation in various parts of the governorate to weed out antisocial elements, including thieves, bootleggers, fraudsters and beggars.
Police swooped down on several hideouts which were being used by criminals and, in some cases, beggars, said Nawwaf Al-Bouq, spokesman for the Jeddah police.
The campaign was launched after the department received several phone calls from citizens claiming that they had come across people indulging in suspicious activities.
“The police swung into action immediately and launched investigations to verify the claims. In the course of the investigation, we found several illegal activities, including alcohol production being carried out in some places,” he said. “We picked up all the accused who were involved in various criminal activities including theft of cars, snatching of handbags and fraud. Those arrested have been referred to competent authorities for further action.”
Giving a break-up of the offenses and arrests in the past three months, Al-Bouq said 126 people were apprehended for indulging in criminal activities, 3,657 people for living in violation of the residency regulations, 606 people for violating the labor law and 3,544 people for begging on the streets. There were 1,858 women among them, as well as 1,676 children, all of them foreigners.
Urging citizens to report any violation or incident on the toll free numbers, Al-Bouq said: “We expect everybody to cooperate with us. They should refrain from giving money to beggars because many of them make begging their profession, and they turn more active during Ramadan,” he said.
Ali Sadi, chief of Jeddah police, said the governorate works round the clock to fight crime.


“No matter what kind of crime or violation, we appeal to the citizens to report such incidents and to refrain from giving money to people who don’t deserve it,” he said.
Khalid Al-Hamid, who works in a private company for Haj and Umrah services, said he feels upset at the sight of beggars on the streets, which has become very common in Jeddah.
“I know that this is a global problem and beggars can be found in any city. Unfortunately, we are seeing their numbers rise particularly with Ramadan fast approaching,” he said.