UAE BARQ برق الإمارات – نبضك
The Dubai Police anti-begging campaign ‘Begging is a Wrong concept of Compassion arrested 177 beggars since its launch at the beginning of the holy month.
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.
“There are people who attempt to justify their illegal behaviour with their financial desperation, however, according to Federal Law No. 9 of 2018 on Anti-begging (100 KB PDF in Arabic), anyone caught begging in the UAE will be fined AED 5,000 and imprisoned for a term up to three months. Those operating professional gangs of beggars or recruiting people from outside the country to work as beggars face a jail term of not less than six months and a minimum fine of AED 100,000.” he stressed.
He urged all citizens and residents not to be sympathetic with beggars and instead donate to official charities. He also asked the public to report beggars to the toll-free number 901 or through the Police Eye service via Dubai Police App.
