Police looking for cross-dressing beggar

Manama: Police in Kuwait are looking for a young man for cross-dressing as a woman and begging in front of a mosque.

The man was discovered when the woman's abaya (coverall) fell off and a worshipper saw hair on the man's leg as he was changing his sitting posture, Arab Times reported. The young man reportedly escaped on foot before police arrived.

Last week, police in Kuwait City arrested an expatriate who disguised himself as a woman to beg for money.

According to Kuwaiti daily Al Rai, the man who fooled people in the upscale Salmiya neighbourhood in Kuwait City, was arrested after a woman who gave him money felt there was something wrong with the begging "woman".

Her husband alerted the police who rushed to the place and arrested the beggar who confessed to receiving up to 25 Dinars ($90) a day.

Last year, Saudi Arabia arrested a man who had begged for five months before his disguise was uncovered.

The abaya-wearing man told police that he earned up to 200 Riyals ($53) on a regular day and that his income increased on Fridays.