Wednesday August 25, 2010
Beggars from China caught making RM1,000 monthly
By M. KUMAR
[email protected]
KUALA LUMPUR: They came to Malaysia on tourist visas but it was not for sight-seeing. Instead, a group of Chinese nationals took to the streets to beg for money. Given the typical Malaysians kindness, some of them made up to RM1,000 a month from begging at popular spots in the city. The syndicate involving 14 Chinese nationals, including four women, was busted yesterday when Immigration officers raided a flat in Brickfields here.
Some of the beggars caught during the raid at the flat in Brickfields, in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday. Immigration officers also recovered cash (inset) in the flat.
Federal Territory Immigration Department director Mohd Sufian Omar said the officers seized RM16,000 believed to have been collected from begging in the last four to 12 months. Those arrested, aged between 40 and 80, were believed to have entered Malaysia between nine months and a year ago. “The travel documents of 10 of them have expired,” he said, adding that some local people were behind the syndicate.
“We estimate that they made RM800 to RM1,000 monthly by begging in areas popular with tourists and shoppers like Petaling Street and Central Market,” Mohd Sufian said. He said that during questioning, they claimed they had been cheated by fellow countrymen who had promised them lucrative jobs here. “In the end, they were forced to beg,” he said. The 14 are now at the Federal Territory immigration detention centre and will be deported.
One of those detained, a woman, said she became a beggar after she realised that she could earn up to RM8,000 a month. The woman, in her 40s claimed that she was forced to beg by a syndicate. “They conned me and took away all my money and forced me to become a beggar. “However after a while, I did not want to stop as I realised that I could make so much money,” she said.
