RIYADH — The Anti-Beggary Squad caught 21,615 beggars during the past year. Squad head Mohammad Al-Qusayir said the beggars were both men and women and the number of Saudi beggars was 2,849. “A total 1,030 of the Saudis were begging for the first time and their punishment was signing a pledge not to repeat the offense. 540 of the beggars were transferred to the social insurance agency and 79 of the beggars were transferred to the social care agency,” said Al-Qusayir. He also said 128 of the beggars were repeat offenders and were transferred to the police while 812 were transferred to different charity associations. “A total of 176 of the beggars were transferred to human resources to seek job opportunities. As for the non-Saudi beggars, a total of 18,766 were repeat offenders and were transferred to the police. 84 of the beggars were begging for the first time and their punishment was signing a pledge not to repeat the offense,” said Al-Qusayir. He added the number of Saudi male beggars was 1,669 and the number of Saudi female beggars was 11,180. The number of non-Saudi male beggars was 16,004 and the number of non-Saudi female beggars was 2,762.
