Three mothers of child beggars put behind bars in Dubai

Mohammad Yaseen, Staff Reporter

Dubai Criminal Court sentenced three Arab women to six months in jail, to be followed by deportation, fined them Dhs5,000 and ordered the confiscation of their money.

The court also ordered that the first suspect’s son be sent to a childcare facility, after she exploited him to beg and ask financial help from passers-by on the streets.

The suspects and their children begged near a shopping centre in the Naif area of Dubai. An Arab employee reported to the police that a child was begging in the streets.

During the interrogations, the employee said that more than once, while on his way to work, he saw a child under 8 begging.

The police tracked down the child and arrested an Arab woman who turned out to be the child’s mother.

The woman reportedly came to the UAE with two women and their children to exploit them for begging. The first suspect guided the police to two other suspects who were arrested at Dubai airport while trying to leave the country.

In the interrogations, the two suspects confessed to their crime and the exploitation of their children in begging before they sent them to their home country earlier.
The Dubai Police anti-begging campaign ‘Begging is a Wrong concept of Compassion arrested many beggars.

Colonel Ali Salem, Director of the Department of infiltrators at Dubai Police, explained that there is an integrated security plan to combat begging in cooperation with partners and intensify patrols in places expected to be frequented by beggars.

“The campaign showed evident success in reducing the number of beggars annually, thanks to the strict procedures taken against violators and the efforts of the General Department of Criminal Investigation to eliminate the phenomenon from our society,” Col Salem added.

“Begging poses a serious threat to the safety and security of our society. We take the matter seriously as it ruins the reputation of the emirate and also affects the security as it increases cases of thefts and pickpocketing,” Director of the Department of infiltrators continued.