Profitable Begging

A one-legged mainland Chinese man has been jailed for a month for begging.

He came to Hong Kong on National Day to beg for money while his wife and nephew spent the day at Ocean Park. He was busted after the staff of JP Plaza noticed he'd been begging for 20 minutes at the corner of Paterson Street and Yee Wo Street.

The police confiscated $573.10 (over US $73) in coins he'd bagged from sympathetic pedestrians. They found he was carrying $9,300 in cash he'd brought with him from China.

The magistrate sentencing him said he doubted the man was a real beggar and chastised him for preying on the sympathies of Hong Kongers. Though he didn't return the confiscated coins, he let the man keep his original bankroll.

$573 in 20 minutes? Damn, I'm in the wrong line of work.

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