Millionaire Beggar Arrested In Saudi Arabia Because Begging Is Illegal In The Country

Begging as a profession is usually employed by people who are down on their luck or have no other means of securing a basic income. However, police have nabbed a person who had actually more money than most ordinary citizens. The arrest happened in Saudi Arabia.

Owing to the law that begging is strictly prohibited in Saudi Arabia and perpetrators can face anything between a hefty fine to serving jail time or even immediate deportation, the beggar was swiftly picked up when the police learnt of his activities. Fahd Al-Ghanam, spokesman of Madinah police, said the man was nabbed after he was found begging in dubious circumstances.

Upon making inquiries, it was learnt that he has been sitting on a fortune of over $300,000. When the police raided his premises in Yanbu port city in western Saudi Arabia, they recovered cash and valuables worth 1.2 million Saudi riyals ($320,000), reported First Post.

Apart from the movable and liquid assets, the man, whose identity hasn’t been released by the Saudi police, was living quite comfortably in a luxurious furnished apartment and used to travel between various cities in a car. Incidentally, the car too was leased in his name. The man, though not belonging to the country, is of Arab ethnicity. The Arab man was living with wife and three children.

Since begging is illegal in the country, the man routinely sought the assistance of his wife and three children to beg. Though the modus operandi isn’t immediately clear, unconfirmed reports indicate that there are hundreds of such ‘ghost’ beggars, who operate in stealth mode and ensure that they beg in different locations to avoid detection and arrests.

Beggars in Saudi Arabia often operate in groups and alert each other of patrolling activists. The millionaire beggar operated with his brood, but couldn’t manage to successfully keep the police away from his back for long. He is most likely to get deported along with his family since the preliminary investigations have revealed that none of them have valid visas to stay in the country.

The police further confirmed that the millionaire beggar managed to obtain an investor licence from a Gulf country. However, neither any commercial activities, nor any revenue was reported on the visa and hence the police could have been on the lookout for the millionaire beggar. The police are now concerned about how the man managed to amass such wealth. Surely begging, in a country where the practice is not only frowned upon, but deemed illegal, couldn’t be such a lucrative profession, asked Saudi Gazette.

[Image Credit| abbtakk, Saudi Gazette]