The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has apprehended 210 beggars as part of its newly launched Operation Sweep Abuja initiative targeting miscreants, street beggars, traders, scavengers, and other criminal elements in the nation's capital.
According to Mrs. Gloria Onwuka, Acting Director of Social Welfare, Social Department Secretariat of FCTA, who disclosed this on Thursday, the apprehended beggars comprise 80 men, 58 women, and 72 children who have been relocated to a rehabilitation center in Bwari.
Scavengers and members of 'one-chance' syndicates who were also caught during the operation have been handed over to police authorities for further investigation and possible prosecution.
Onwuka revealed a disturbing trend where children are being trafficked from northern states into Abuja specifically for begging operations. "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," she explained.
"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," Onwuka added.
The FCTA official also highlighted deceptive tactics employed by some beggars to elicit sympathy from the public. She cited an instance where a woman falsely claimed to have breast cancer by wearing bandages, but upon inspection, no wounds were found.
Following profiling procedures, authorities plan to return the trafficked children to their states of origin, primarily Kano and Katsina.
The crackdown aligns with recent statements from FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, who has repeatedly emphasized that Abuja is not a haven for criminal elements and street beggars.
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