Over 200 Beggars in Abuja have been apprehended under the Operation Sweep Abuja programme of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
Acting Director, Social Welfare, Social Department Secretariat, FCTA, Mrs Gloria Onwuka, disclosed this in Abuja during the operation that saw the arrest of miscreants, street beggars, traders, scavengers and other criminal elements,
Mrs Onwuka said the operation which commenced on Monday, was in line with the directive of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
She stated that the 210 beggars, made up of 80 men, 58 women and 72 children, were camped at the Bwari Rehabilitation Centre, adding that scavengers, ‘one chance’ syndicate and other criminals that were also apprehended were detained by the police.
The Director said the beggars who were caught in the act, in different locations in the capital territory, were being profiled and would be sent back to their various states.
The Director said that some of the children begging on the streets were brought in by unidentified individuals to beg and hand over the proceeds to them, adding that some of the women who were caught with children begging on their behalf, were not the biological mothers of the children.
“Begging is now run like a business. People will go and hire people’s children from other states, put them in vehicles very early in the morning, come to Abuja and start begging.
“The families they are hiring these children from don’t even know that this is what they are using their children to do.
“We have caught so many of them like that.
“Also, some of the beggars will even tie a bandage on their legs claiming injuries but it’s all lies.
“There is a woman we caught who claimed she has cancer of the breast, but when we loose the bandage, there was no single wound on her breast,” Onwuka said.
On his part, Director, Security Services Department, FCTA, Mr Damy Gwary, said that the operation covered the City Centre, Kubwa, Gwarimpa, Asokoro, Garki and Wuse among other locations.
Represented by Dr Peter Olumuji, Secretary, FCTA Command and Control Centre, the director said that the operation was to rid the city of all forms of criminal elements, saying that the activities of the beggars, scavengers and other criminal elements have become a source of concern to FCT residents.
He pointed out that beggars pose security threats and constitute a nuisance in the city, stressing that Wike had directed the Commissioner of Police (CP) in the FCT and other security agencies to tackle all forms of security threats across the territory.
He said the operation would continue as long as security threats existed in the FCT.
