ACCORDING to Metro Ahad, Middle Eastern gangsters are exerting control over the streets of Bukit Bintang, taking over from Malaysian triads.

Its front page carried stories of these foreign gangsters who had become responsible for the social ills in the area, which is now also known among them as “Ain Arabia” (Arab Street).

The gangsters have reportedly taken over from their local counterparts, especially around business premises by the main road.

A taxi driver, known only as Alim, told the daily that some of the gangsters, most of whom arrived as tourists, were involved in prostitution and drugs.

He claimed to have shuttled Middle Eastern prostitutes to and from various hotels in Bukit Bintang, adding that they usually worked at nightclubs and that their customers were mostly Middle Easterners.

It was reported that the gangsters and prostitutes usually convened in nightclubs in the area.

A journalist, who went undercover at one of the nightclubs, discovered that the services of a Middle Eastern prostitute ranged from RM600 onwards a night.

A prostitute told him that she would not stay in Malaysia for more than three months at a time, but frequently flew here from her home country of Yemen.

> Chewing betel leaves appears to be 103-year-old Bidah Senik’s secret to longevity, reported Berita Harian Ahad.

It was said that Bidah, or Che Woa from Bachok, Kelantan, had a birth certificate that stated her date of birth as Oct 11, 1911.

She claimed that chewing betel leaves was the reason for her unusually good health and that she first caught the habit during her teenage days.

Consuming at least 10 betel leaves a day, Bidah has no major illnesses other than the rare fever.

She has eight children from two marriages, along with 60 grandchildren and 100 great-grandchildren.

– THE STAR