ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Tuesday, July 15th 2014 [ME NewsWire]

The Abu Dhabi Police GHQ has announced that as many as 231 beggars were arrested across the city of Abu Dhabi in two weeks since the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan, as part of the policing and security efforts to curb this scourge.

Major General Mohammed bin Al Awadhi Al Menhali, Director General of Police Operations at Abu Dhabi Police GHQ, noted beggars, mostly of Asian nationalities, were caught trying to appeal to  the sympathy of citizens especially in front of mosques and in public places. Al Menhali urged community members to cooperate by quickly reporting the whereabouts of beggars.

For his part, Colonel Dr. Rashid Mohammad Borshid, Acting Director of the Community Police Directorate, indicated that the police and investigation patrols will intensity their crackdown campaigns to arrest beggars in areas where they are most likely to frequent. Colonel Borshid pointed out that cooperation between the police and community members is vital and extremely important in the fight against begging.

Adding further, Colonel Borshid indicated that the arrested resort to begging as an easy way to make money without effort, and consider begging the most lucrative of professions. “This is fraud, not people in need,” he noted;  stressing that most beggars are mainly thieves, who go door-to-door, become familiar with homes, and can later pose a robbery threat.

The Acting Director of the Capital Police Directorate urged people to not hesitate to report beggars by calling the operations room on (999), via the “Aman” service on 8002626 which receives information confidentially, or via SMS on 2828.

It is worth mentioning that Abu Dhabi Police had recently launched a media and community outreach initiative under the slogan “Together… against Begging.” This campaign aims to raise awareness about the growing risks of obliging beggars whose numbers seem to peak particularly before and during the holy month of Ramadan and the Eid Al Fitr holidays. This initiative is carried out by the Security Media Department at the General Secretariat of the Office of H.H Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, as part of the “Your Safety” campaign. These awareness drives are carried out in collaboration between different police and security authorities within the UAE to eradicate this negative phenomenon.

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The Arabic-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the Arabic-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect.

Contacts

The UAE Minister of Interior's General Secretariat, Tactical Affairs and Security Media Department

Abu Dhabi Police GHQ - Security Media

Chris Cron +971-(0)-50-987-1317

E-mail: cron.media@hotmail.com

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