***889 destitutes swept off streets in major crackdown
Shocking revelations have emerged from the ongoing crackdown on beggars and destitute persons in Abuja, as the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) disclosed that criminal gangs now use vulnerable persons, including the physically challenged, to courier illicit drugs across the city.
Secretary of the FCT Command and Control Centre, Dr. Peter Olumuji, who spoke during the enforcement exercise tagged Operation Sweep, said intelligence reports uncovered how syndicates exploit beggars and homeless persons for criminal activities, especially at night.
“The sad thing is that, as vulnerable as they have become, they have also become useful tools in the hands of criminal elements,” Olumuji said.
“From intelligence we have gathered over time, they use them to courier illicit drugs, especially in the nighttime. Who will suspect that a physically challenged person could courier illicit drugs? But they use them to do that.”
He also revealed that some of the beggars act as informants for criminals, while enforcement officials have suffered attacks during operations.
According to him, some suspects even used walking canes and other mobility aids as weapons against officials.
The development comes as the FCTA intensified efforts to rid Abuja streets of beggars, scavengers and destitute persons in a bid to improve security and restore sanity in the city.
Head of FCT Enforcement, Ulkacha Adebayo, disclosed that 54 persons, including 45 adults and nine children, were evacuated during Monday’s operation alone.
She said a total of 889 destitute persons had been removed from Abuja streets within the last three months.
“In the past three months, we were able to evacuate about 835 of them. So, if we add it to the number we have now, it’s about 889,” she said.
Adebayo explained that those evacuated would undergo profiling, rehabilitation and vocational training at government facilities.
She maintained that the operation followed persistent complaints from residents over street begging and insecurity in the nation’s capital.
“They cause a lot of nuisance and the FCT Administration is bent on sanitizing the city. We don’t have a choice than to also assist to keep doing that,” she added.
Areas already cleared by the enforcement team include Maitama, Asokoro, Garki, Wuse and Gwarinpa, with officials insisting that the operation would continue indefinitely under the directive of the FCT Minister.
