12th September, 2014
The Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences on Thursday in Ikeja paraded a 29-year old woman it arrested for faking pregnancy.
NAN reports that the woman was arrested under the Ikeja Bridge where she had been using her “heavy pregnancy” to deceive and solicit alms from residents.
She was paraded with a pillow, which she hid under her dress to fake a protruded belly, to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
Speaking on her arrest, Mr Bayo Sulaiman, Chairman of the Task Force, said the woman was arrested following a tip-off from members of the public about her suspicious activities.
Sulaiman explained that the suspect confessed to the dishonest business after arrest and even displayed to officials how she faked the pregnancy to appeal to people’s sympathy and defraud them.
“The case of this woman is one of the many cases of many dishonest people across the metropolis that operate under different guises to solicit alms and defraud members of the public,” he said.
The task force chairman said the suspect would be arraigned in court to face the consequence of her fraudulent way of life.
He advised members of the public to be wary of people who approached them for assistance, saying that some of them might be fraudsters.
Sulaiman said street begging had serious security and environmental consequences and the state government would not in any way condone the practice.