Cairo: Kuwait plans to deport expatriates caught begging during Ramadan amid a crackdown on the unlawful practice.
The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry has announced the arrest of 11 male and female expatriates involved in begging.
The ministry said the offenders included eight women and three men who hold Arab and Asian nationalities.
They were caught begging in front of mosques and markets, the ministry added in a statement.
Some of those arrested had entered Kuwait with visit visas or family residency permits, while others are irregular workers who have no permanent jobs.
The ministry said legal measures are being taken against companies that have facilitated the recruitment of those workers in violation of Kuwait's law.
Highlighting the legal procedures, the ministry said that the General Department of Residence Affairs Investigations will undertake the deportation of all violators.
Accordingly, the violating holders of residence permits as dependents will be deported along with their sponsors.
### Company to be penalised
As for a holder of residence permits for working in the private sector, the violator will be deported, and the employing company will be penalised.
Domestic workers caught begging will also be deported from Kuwait while their sponsors will be barred from obtaining labour visas in the future.
The ministry has warned that abusers of children in begging to gain people’s sympathy will have a case of “exploitation of minors” registered against them and will face strict legal measures.
Additionally, the ministry has warned that legal action will be taken in cases of begging on social media.
Beggars usually capitalise on the Ramadan month marked by benevolence.
Kuwait has deployed squads to pursue beggars during the sacred month and arrest those, who knock on the doors of people in the run-up to the Iftar or fast breaking at sunset, or those begging in markets and outside mosques.
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