Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Combat Begging campaign that has been launched by the Dubai Police since the begging of the holy month of Ramadan in cooperation with the partners has led to arresting 416 beggars and door-to-door vendors of various nationalities in the emirate.

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 Friday.

He said “The Dubai police intensified this year patrolling in various parts of the emirate, which led to the arrest of 416 beggars and vendors, including 395 men and 21 women.”

Colonel Ali Salem also noted that the campaign is launched by the Dubai Police annually before the Holy Month of Ramadan and continues until the end of Eid Al-Fitr.

"It is one of the successful campaigns that have contributed to reducing the number of beggars annually, due to the strict measures taken against the arrested beggars," he added.

Ali Salem said, “The CID has set an integrated security plan to combat begging in co-operation 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.”