The Kano State Hisbah Board said the outfit apprehended 931 street beggars in the last two weeks.
The beggars were arrested on major roads, under bridges, markets, railway stations and other strategic locations within the local government towns and metropolitan areas, Hisbah -a Sharia police said.
Commander-General of the Hisbah Board, Sheikh Dr. Haruna Muhammadu Sani Ibn Sina, who paraded the beggars before newsmen at Hisbah headquarters Sharada, Kano, disclosed that the arrest and evacuation of the beggars was part of the board’s efforts to curtail street begging in Kano.
He said out of the 931 beggars apprehended, 320 were male while 611 were female, adding that three of them tested positive to HIV/AIDS, while a large number of the underage female were pregnant.
Among those arrested was an old woman found with a huge amount of money, Hisbah said.
Sheikh Ibn Sina said some 536 female and 279 male have been reunited with their families, while 63 of the beggars are still in the board’s custody.
The commander general noted that “Kano indigenes were reunited, through Hisbah commanders across the 44 local government areas, while those from neighbouring states were transported by the state government and handed over to their relatives.”
According to him, the beggars in their custody are being provided with “a three-square meal every day.”
Answering a question on why most beggars reappear on the streets after being evacuated, the commander general said anyone found guilty of that will be prosecuted, “because Islam prohibits begging.”
Sheikh Ibn Sina alleged that some of the beggars are parts of phone snatching syndicates terrorising people.