JEDDAH — Begging in the Kingdom has become an organized crime which can easily produce a monthly income of up to SR60,000, a newspaper reported Sunday, quoting the secretary general of the permanent committee to combat human trafficking. "There are organized gangs behind this trade, which is an obvious example of human trafficking," Badr Bajabir said. He added that women and children were being widely used as tools in this crime. “The children and women were being used for begging and also for the distribution of drugs and porno films by coercion, seduction, temptation, threats and other means," he said. Bajabir said some women and children would be taken to unscrupulous doctors to permanently disfigure them before they were sent to the streets to beg. According to him, about 80 percent of beggars in the Kingdom are non-Saudis. He said under the Saudi law, the use of women and children in begging is a flagrant crime that may lead to 15 years behind bars. "Individuals who are found to be behind this crime will also be asked to pay fines of not less than SR1 million while companies and establishments will be fined SR10 million," he said. Bajabir called for combining efforts to protect victimized women and children and said there is an ongoing international cooperation in this respect. He said there are schools in some countries specializing in teaching children the methods of begging to make them successful beggars. He said most of the children who beg in the Kingdom do not do this on their own free will but are being orchestrated by criminal gangs. He recalled the story of a foreigner who was jailed for 18 months and ordered to pay a big fine for forcing his two wives to beg. "This man distributes his 11 children in various areas in Jeddah to beg. His monthly income is well above SR60,000," he said. He said one of his wives was caught 63 times on charges of begging but was released each time. Bajabir said some employees of the cleaning companies contracted to municipalities, who are given charity out of compassion, allegedly rent their official uniforms in the evenings at SR10 an hour to beggars to help them make more money.
