Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

As many as 242 beggars and vendors of various nationalities have been arrested within the “combating begging” campaign that has been launched by the Dubai Police since the beginning of this Ramadan in cooperation with the partners.

The campaign aims to enhance the societal awareness of the begging risks on security and stability of the society, confirmed Colonel Ali Salem, Director of the Infiltrators Department at the Criminal Investigations Department of Dubai Police on Thursday.

Those arrested included 143 men, 21 women and 78 vendors, he added.

Ali Salem said, “The CID has set an integrated security plan to combat begging in cooperation with partners, and to intensify patrols in places, which are targeted by beggars.”

He also indicated that begging is associated with negative acts that pose risks to the community security and property.

In addition, it defames the image of the state and its cultural appearance, as a result of the risks associated with begging, such as committing crimes of theft and child abuse, apart from exploiting patients and people with disabilities in begging, to make unlawful gains, he added.

The police have urged the public to report beggars who take advantage of the blessed month of Ramadan to draw sympathy and beg money from passersby, especially under the current circumstances.

Ali Salem called for not responding to beggars, or dealing with them, and to alert the police by reporting any beggars monitored anywhere on (901) or the “Police Eye” service on the smart applications of Dubai Police.

Furthermore, he warned the community members to be cautious of the sympathy messages that beggars send through social media and e-mail containing fabricated stories.

“Those emails or messages should be ignored and not to be believed. They must be reported via the “e-crime” platform concerned with cybercrimes in a smooth and easy way through www.ecrime.ae.”

Earlier, the Abu Dhabi Police warned against begging emails via WhatsApp and social media that ask for help in illegal ways.

Abu Dhabi Police explained that it was a crime and in violation of the law. The scam was being run by fraud gangs, targeting random members of society.

The police asked people to ignore these fake requests, as a reply would elicit a continuation in their messages.