Following the announcement anti-trafficking was on the “national agenda,” metropolitan police announced yesterday they arrested 101 of Bangkok’s panhandlers.
Among those apprehended were 78 Thais and 23 foreigners. They were categorized into three groups: Those who play that music on those speakers, those with troubling-to-unbelievable physical deformities and those who are just mentally ill, according to police Gen. Siwara Rangsiphraphamonkun.
As our report on street children last year found, some population of indigent young beggars are victims of trafficking brought to Bangkok to earn money for their minders.
But this recent police action seems to go much further. All of the arrested panhandlers will be prosecuted in accordance with a 1941 law panhandling. The Thai nationals will be sent to the Thanyaburi Homeless Shelter in Pathum Thani to receive career training while the foreign beggars will be charged with illegal entry and deported, state media reported.
Photo: Nist6dh
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