Lagos Task Force Arrests Mother, Son for Fake Street Begging

Chiemelie Ezeobi

Operatives of the Lagos State Task Force, on Thursday arrested a fake street beggar, one 40-year-old Chinagoro Uwenke and her 11-year-old son Sunny, at the Oshodi area of the state. She had faked that her son had an injury.

The Chairman of the Lagos State Task Force, SP Olayinka Egbeyemi, while parading the suspect, disclosed that there were many fake beggars pretending and deceiving innocent members of the public with different illnesses / diseases.

Already, Egbeyemi said the agency was collaborating with relevant government Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) to get rid of these beggars on the streets/roads of Lagos.

Egbeyemi said the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, has directed that the suspect be immediately charge to court.

He however appealed to members of the public to stop giving alms to these fake beggars who troop into Lagos in large numbers on daily basis.

In her confessional statement, the suspect, confirmed that she bandaged her son’s leg with two rolls of white bandages and poured GV blue ink on the leg everyday in order to deceive members of the public to give arms to the innocent boy.

Uwenke said she and her son stays at Oloko-danna near Ijora-Olopa area at Oyingbo but she stopped her son’s education at JSS II at Oworebiri Secondary School at Ata Town in Abia State, for street begging when she realised that it was a lucrative business where she made N3,500 to N5,000 on daily basis.