Five scavengers were on Monday sentenced to three months’ imprisonment after a Dei-dei Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, found them guilty of constituting public nuisance.

The police charged the convicts, Abubakar, Sadiq, Mubarak Mohammed Bashiru Yahaya, Ismail Mohammed and Gambo Isah, all of no fixed address, with public nuisance.

Judge Sulyman Ola however gave the convicts an option to pay a fine of N10,000 each and urged them to always be  law-abiding citizens.

The convicts pleaded guilty to the crime and asked the court to temper justice with mercy.

Chinedu Ogada, the prosecutor had told the court that the convicts were apprehended by a police surveillance team attached to Gwarinpa police station while on crime prevention patrol on August 15.

Mr Ogada said that the surveillance team arrested the convicts in 3rd Avenue Gwarinpa, while operating as scavengers.

He told the court that the convicts have been warned to desist from operating in the area, but they refused to comply with the order.

Meanwhile, the convicts could not give the police satisfactory accounts of their actions during the investigation.

The offence contravened Section 198 of the Penal Code Law, said the prosecutor.

(NAN)