With the commencement of Operation Sweep Abuja, no fewer than 210 miscreants, street beggars, traders, scavengers, and other criminal elements have been apprehended by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA.

The 210 beggars, comprising 80 men, 58 women, and 72 children, have been camped at a rehabilitation centre in Bwari.

The scavengers, ‘one chance’ syndicate, and other criminals who were also apprehended have been handed over to the police.

This was disclosed in Abuja by the Acting Director of Social Welfare, Social Department Secretariat of FCTA, Mrs Gloria Onwuka, on Thursday.

She disclosed that some unidentified individuals imported the children from Kano, Katsina, and other states into Abuja to beg and hand over the proceeds to them.

Onwuka, however, disclosed that after being profiled, the children would be deported back to where they came from.

“Begging is now run like a business. People will go and hire 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 had cancer of the breast, but when we loosened the bandage, there was not a single wound on her breast,” Onwuka said.