Two more Cambodian monks have been arrested in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district after they were found to have entered the country illegally and collected alms and solicited donations from dawn to noon every day.
A team of police led by Pol Lt Ekkapong Khwanmad, a deputy suppression inspector at Hat Yai police station, arrested the two monks while they were collecting alms at Kimyong market in Hat Yai municipality on Monday.
They were identified as teenagers Chiew Chaotee and Yo-andaro, both 19, both Cambodian nationals. Police took them to see a senior monk at Wat Mahantamangkhararam in Songkhla for investigation.
The probe found they carried Cambodian monk cards, but they had expired two years ago. They had entered Thailand illegally and had been soliciting donations for two years, police said.
The two men had stayed in Bangkok for three months before moving to Songkhla where they had since sought shelter at various temples in the southern province.
They had boarded a song taew passenger bus to collect alms and solicit donations in downtown Hat Yai every day.
They were expelled from the monkhood.
Police said the two Cambodian teenagers were members of the same gang as two other fake Cambodian monks caught on Sunday.
Authorities have also charged them with illegal entry.