KUALA LUMPUR: Two foreign men who were recorded singing and begging on the streets in Bukit Bintang have been nabbed.
The men from Morocco were picked up by enforcement personnel from the Immigration Department during an operation at 1.30am on Saturday (Oct 19), said Sinar Harian.
Their method of begging, which involved playing drums in their ethnic outfits, became viral on social media.
One of the men, identified as Khalid, 30, told reporters after their arrest that they had been playing musical instruments and dancing to earn money for food.
He said that the musical instruments and traditional Moroccan clothing were brought from their home country, and they perform daily from 10pm to 1am.
Khalid also told reporters that he and the other man had entered the country as tourists and stayed at a nearby hotel.
He claimed that they could earn up to RM200 per day.
Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department director Wan Mohamed Saupee Wan Yusoff said checks showed that both men had misused their social visit passes, adding that the duo from Morrocco are being investigated under Immigration Regulations 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963.
"Both men have entered Malaysia using social visit passes on Oct 11 for tourism purposes," he said, warning foreign tourists against abusing these passes.
