DHAKA: Saudis have expressed disbelief following a report that a Yemeni who had spent close to 10 years begging in Saudi Arabia offered his wife a four-wheel drive vehicle and a plot of land for supporting him.

According to the report, first published by a Yemeni website, the Yemeni expatriate moved to Saudi Arabia in 2003 to work as a carpenter in the Red Sea resort of Jeddah.

However, the man ‘discovered within months of his arrival that he could make much more money by begging and decided to give up his job and start imploring financial assistance’.

After ten years in Saudi Arabia during which he did not go back at all to his home country, he left for Yemen and ‘offered his wife a Land Cruiser and a plot of land for her perseverance and fortitude during his 10-year absence’.

The report said that the Yemeni also invested money in business and opened several commercial shops.

‘This is incredible,’ one Saudi blogger posted. ‘Are we that naïve or is it our tendency to help people who seem to be in need? It is too much’.

For Mismar, another blogger, the story could not be true.

‘We are aware that some beggars do make money, but not to the extent of buying a fancy vehicle and a piece of land and opening shops,’ the blogger posted.

Atiyyah said that people should stop offering money to beggars.

‘We are often faced with people asking for money at traffic lights. It is a nuisance and the authorities should do more to remedy to the situation,’ Atiyyah said, reports gulfnews.com.

BDST: 2012 HRS, SEPT 30, 2013
RoR/SRS