Dubai: A 26-year-old Jordanian has been arrested for begging on the streets of Aqaba while pretending to be a woman in her 70s, local media reported.
According to the Ministry of Social Development, the woman rushed into a shop and came out dressed as a young woman in her 20s after realizing that she was being stalked.
However, she was accosted and arrested before seizing JD180 from her possession, which she claimed was total amount collected of two 'working days'. She told the authorities that she begs in Aqaba Governorate on week-ends and the rest of the week in Amman.
As begging has become a “profession” for many, the anti-vagrancy unit at the Ministry of Social Development has urged the public not to give cash to beggars but to charity and care centres.
Last September, the ministry arrested a beggar, who owns a sole proprietorship with a capital of around $23,000 in addition to two cars.
