An Arab newspaper has reported that Yemeni children say they have been brought to Saudi Arabia to become professional beggars.

They had been given instructions to say they were with parents, children seen asking for money on the streets told the Arab News.

His father gave him to a group of Yemenis who crossed the border, instructing him first to do whatever they told him, one boy said. He was told to ask early in the day for money to buy lunch for his mother and later for dinner money, he said.

He further revealed, "We give whatever we collect to the man who brought me here."

It was also reported that a young girl told the News the woman she was with was not a relative.

She said, "Every morning a man takes us and places us at various spots. Every young girl is accompanied by an old woman who pretends to be her mother."

He pretended to be a police officer and approached a Yemeni man with a woman and young child. The woman was asking for money to feed the child, a reporter for the paper said.

The children are rented from their parents to become beggars or props, the man said. (With Inputs from Agencies)