The Dubai Public Prosecution referred two female visitors to the Misdemeanors Court on charges of begging people for money. The two women have been arrested and the amounts in their possession, seized. The court sentenced them to one month in jail to be followed by deportation and ordered the seized money to be confiscated.

Khalid Hassan Al Mutawa, assistant chief prosecutor, who initiated investigation into the case, said the two women had been arrested in co-operation with the anti-begging authorities and taken to the police station before being referred to the public prosecution for interrogation.

He explained that the defendants confessed during the public prosecution interrogations that they were selling some foodstuffs in a shopping area but went later to a nearby mosque to ask passersby and worshippers for money, which they did collect some.

Based on this, the two defendants were referred to the Misdemeanor Court on charges of begging, which is punished under the federal law no. 9 for 2018 on anti-begging, he said.

Al Mutawa called on the members of the society to contribute to fighting and curbing this phenomenon by not responding to beggars and ignoring begging attempts. He also called on them to notify the concerned accordingly so that necessary legal action is taken. Begging is a dangerous negative phenomenon that jeopardizes the security and integrity of the society, he said, noting that the UAE charities extend a helping hand to every needy person and their doors are always open to everybody.

Recently, the Dubai Criminal Court sentenced a 26-year-old European visitor to 10 years in jail to be followed by deportation for attempting to smuggle about two kilogrammes of cocaine into the country through an airport. She was also slapped with a fine of Dhs50,000, the Court ordered.

The convict had been caught at an airport in the emirate, when a Dubai Customs inspector suspected and inspected her bag. A black plastic wrap was found fixed in the bottom of the bag. It was found to contain a white substance that had the distinctive form of cocaine.

The convict denied her knowledge about contents of that wrap, claiming that the bag had been handed over to her by someone in her homeland to be delivered to a person in the country.

She continued, “That person informed me that I will take the bag and hand it over to someone else, who will give me a bigger bag to buy clothes for me and my friends and put them in and gave me 200 euros as a gift.”