KOTA BARU, May 26 — The Welfare Department (JKM) in Kelantan has found that most of the foreign beggars in the state arrived in groups before the month of Ramadan.
Its Senior Assistant Director (Enforcement Division) Azman Mat Zain said the groups made up of mainly Thai and Cambodian nationals rented houses solely for the purpose of soliciting donations here.
He said while they frequented areas near banks before, they had now shifted to mosques and Ramadan bazaars as these areas had more people.
“In today’s operations in front of several banks in Kota Baru and Wakaf Che Yeh, we managed to round up 12 foreign and three local beggars.
“The youngest foreign person we detained was a two-year-old who was with the mother while the oldest was 80 years. All the foreigners will be handed over to JKM Kelantan for further action,” he told reporters after the integrated operation to round up beggars and vagrants here, today.
He added that such operations would be conducted from time to time. — Bernama
