Cleaner who was mocked online is swamped with presents by well-wishers

A photo of a cleaner staring into a Riyadh jewellery shop went viral on social media after he was mocked online. Photo / Twitter

A Bangladeshi cleaner working in Saudi Arabia was showered with gifts after a photo of him staring into a jewellers' window was ridiculed and went viral on social media.

Nazer al-Islam Abdul Karim, 65, who works in Riyadh, was mocked by an Instagram user who shared the photo, writing: "This man deserves to only look at rubbish."

An outpouring of support for the cleaner ensued and Abdullah Al-Qahtani, who has a Twitter account called Ensaneyat - 'humanitarianism' in Arabic - set out to find him.

The cleaner was later identified as 65-year-old Nazer al-Islam Abdul Karim. Photo / Twitter

Al-Qahtani, 38, explained that money is still being sent to Karim as well as bags of rice and honey, return tickets to his home country and two mobile phones - "an iPhone 7 and a Samsung Galaxy".

Social media users, particularly Saudis on Twitter, have vowed to continue sending gifts to Karim, including one user who wants to give him 2,000 Riyal ($530).

Once Karim was found, an executive at a Saudi sports channel posted videos on Snapchat showing him choosing a gold set. He also posted photos of the cleaner with his new gifts.

Al-Qahtani told CNN that he was impressed by the efforts made to locate the cleaner and by the kindness and generosity of those who reached out to help him.