How beggars try to keep ahead of police

Beggars in Dubai appear to be influenced by drug gangs which continuously seek new techniques for their operations to avert the arm of the law.

An intensified crackdown launched by Dubai’s police to eliminate begging and improve the image of the metropolitan city is pushing beggars to follow the smugglers’ suit and resort to novel begging methods.

While some beggars are entering the emirate as businessmen, some of them are forging official charity receipts and others claim they are raising funds for the construction of a new mosque. The rest, though lacking these techniques, seem to have gained experience in their profession and started to shun mosques and other places which are most targeted by police raids.

But all these techniques appear to futile in face of veteran police squads in a country that has a long experience and a rich record in combating drugs and other criminal activities, being targeted by international gangs given its high per capita income, open economy and ethnic diversity.

Police records showed that at least 200 beggars have been caught by Dubai’s law-enforcers in just around three weeks and most of them were seized outside the customary begging places or in possession of fake charity documents.

“We are closing in on beggars, who are developing new begging and cheating techniques…many of them have started to avoid mosques and public places so they will not fall in the grip of our anti-begging squads who are now deployed throughout the emirate,” said Brigadier Khalil Al Mansouri, Director of the Dubai General Administration for Criminal Investigation.

“We mounted a new anti-begging drive at the end of July and it has achieved substantial progress as more than 200 beggars have been seized… the drive is timed with the advent of the holy month of Ramadan as some beggars come to the UAE during specific religious seasons to beg and make much money.”

Mansouri said several Dubai law enforcement agencies are participating in this drive, including the Immigration and the Tourism Security Departments.

In statements carried by local newspapers on Saturday, another official said Dubai’s police had uncovered several new techniques adopted by the beggars over the past period, adding that many of them are visitors and foreign residents.

“We have recently arrested an Asian who had entered the country with a visit visa… he was wearing an Arabian gown and carrying a package of papers he used to knock at the door of apartments to give papers to those residents asking them to donate for building a mosque and a Koran memorisation centre,” said Lt Colonel Mohammed Al Muhrairi, Head of the Tourism Security Department.

“The public appears to have become well aware of these deception acts as we have received more than 150 complaints on our free toll number 8004438…all of them complained about being disturbed at home and shopping centres.”

Muhairi said other beggars had been caught in possession of what he described as “fake donation receipts” similar to those issued by authorized charity groups.

“Some beggars have entered the country with businessman visas…this has prompted us to increase our coordination with the Dubai Immigration and Residency Department in order to seize these beggars,” he said.

“We have also stepped up patrols and inspection at such places as petrol stations and car parks as many beggars are turning to these places.”

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