A beggar found with five hundred thousand naira (N500,000) and a hundred dollar note ($100) has regained her freedom a day after she was apprehended by the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA.
The 48-year-old woman (name withheld), was picked up in the streets of Abuja under the suspicion that she illegally acquired the cash.
However, on Thursday 17, 2022, she was released with her money after an investigation proved that the cash was gotten through begging around high-brows areas.
Briefing the press about the incident, the Director, Social Welfare Services of the Social Development Secretariat, SDS, Mallam Sani Amar, revealed that the beggar is an indigene of KadunaState.
He said the only thing deceitful about her actions is that she still pretends to be poor and continues to beg, adding that she could invest the money realised and quit her current hustle.
According to the Director, she gathered money she realised from begging over the years without investing it and that the authorities had to arrest her being convinced she was part of a chronic begging organisation member that needed to be taken off the streets.
She was earlier apprehended among other beggars on Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent in Wuse II, and the arrest was carried out to ascertain that they don’t possess harmful weapons to attack the SDC operatives.