Beggars “renting” infants to be arrested: Jakarta Police

The Jakarta Police said that they would arrest beggars who hit the streets with infants who are not their own and charge them with child exploitation.

“The beggars will undergo legal processing if it is proven that the baby does not belong to him or her,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharudin Jafar said on Saturday.

Public order officers are currently cracking down on street beggars and other people deemed as “suffering from social welfare problems”.

People from outside Jakarta habitually flood the city to work as beggars during the Ramadhan period, during which more fortunate people frequently hand out alms to the poor. Beggars usually “rent” infants and toddlers to gain more sympathy from those giving alms.

Jafar added that using other people’s infants to beg was a form of child exploitation, which went against the 2002 law on child protection.

“The violation carries a 10 year prison sentence and a fine of Rp 200 million (US$23,600),” he said.