Dubai Police arrested a conman posing as a beggar who tricked Dubai people into donating money to build mosque outside the UAE. The beggar was arrested with a cash sum totalling Dhs300,000.
On Wednesday, the Police warned residents to be cautious of fraudsters who try to trick them by seeking their sympathy.
“Most of the beggars were visitors and they come during Ramadan for easy money as they know UAE is a rich country and people here always want to help and sympathise with beggars. We have a team of officers to crackdown on beggars,” Brigadier Mohammad Rashid Bin Sari Al Muhairi, deputy director of Criminal Investigation Department of Dubai Police, said during a press conference in Dubai Police headquarters.
In order to curb the problem, the police has divided the city into three zones depending upon the number of beggars in the area.
“We will divide the city in to green, yellow and red zones. We can send more patrols to the red zone, which means many beggars are spotted in the area. The yellow zone means fewer beggars in the area and green zone means there are rarely any beggars. This system will help crackdown the problem,” he added.
Residents are requested to call 901, if they spot a beggar. In addition to that, Captain Mohammad Shihab, of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai has asked tourist companies to be extra careful while they issue a visa to individuals as many beggars come on a visit visa. “We always check with tourist companies to be sure when they apply for visit visas for people. Sometimes we close the company if they have violated the rules,” Captain Mohammad Shihab said.
Last Ramadan police arrested 154 beggars compared to 641 beggars in 2016.
Meanwhile, Brigadier Ahmad Thani Bin Gulaitha, Director of Rafaa Police Station and Head of Police Stations Council in Dubai Police, said "Most of the beggars were Asians who take advantage of the easy money during Ramadan. Most of them are fraudsters, they come during Ramadan on visit visa and loiter around mosques. Don’t sympathise with the beggars, instead give your help or money to charity organisations in the country.”