3,600 caught for begging so far this year — ministry

AMMAN — The Ministry of Social Development’s anti-vagrancy teams have picked up around 3,600 men, women and children suspected of begging since January, a ministry official said on Tuesday.  

Some 240 of those detained were non-Jordanians, including some Syrian refugee children, the ministry spokesperson, Fawaz Ratrout, told The Jordan Times. 

“The ministry refers the adult beggars to the court and keeps most of the children in rehabilitation centres affiliated with the ministry,” Ratrout said, adding that the ministry’s responsibility ended after referring the suspects to court.  

Most vagrants were adults, with 1,278 women and 1,069 men detained, while the underage detainees included 795 boys and 487 girls, he added. 

In 2015, the ministry detained around 4,000 vagrants, of whom 332 were non-Jordanians. The ministry picked up 1,300 children suspected of begging in 2015, mostly in the capital, followed by Irbid, Zarqa and Aqaba, the spokesperson said. 

Anti-vagrancy teams started using iPads in 2015 to exchange and document information about vagrants and their locations, and to contact relevant authorities, the ministry has said.