Fake Cambodian monks caught in Chon Buri
published : 1 Dec 2023 at 12:44
writer: R May
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Chaiyot Pupattanapong
Four Cambodian men posing as Buddhist monks were arrested Friday morning by immigration police in Si Racha district.
The police action followed complaints from local residents that a number of Cambodian nationals, disguised as monks in yellow robes, had been begging for food and money in the area near Suparerk market on Kao Kilo road in tambon Surasak.
The residents said the Cambodian men had been living in makeshift shelters on the mountain near their community.
Immigration police, led by Pol Col Prinya Klinkesorn, went up the mountain on Friday morning and found four Cambodians in yellow robes who had just returned from alms-taking.
The men did not carry passports or any travel documents. They told the police that many other Cambodians were also living in the area. During a search, the officers found only a few abandoned bamboo shelters, cooking equipment and some household items.
The four men were disrobed and charged with illegal entry and illegally impersonating monks. They were to be repatriated after going through legal procedures.
Phra Khru Rangsan, the abbot of Wat Phutthanimit, a Buddhist temple in the area, said these Cambodians had claimed they were from the temple while soliciting donations.
Vocabulary
- abandoned (adj): left and no longer used - ร้าง, ที่ถูกละทิ้ง
- alms: food, money, and other items that are given to Buddhist monks; money, clothes and food that are given to poor people - ของทำบุญ ของบริจาค
- begging (noun): getting money by asking people for money , on the side of the street, for example - การขอทาน
- disguised: wearing or doing somethiing to change the way that you look so that people will not recognise you - ปลอมตัว
- disrobe (verb): to force a man out of the monkhood, i.e., to not allow him to wear the monk's robe - ให้ออกจากการเป็นพระ
- impersonate (verb): to pretend to be somebody/something in order to trick people or to entertain them - เลียนแบบ, แกล้งทำเป็น, ปลอมเป็น
- makeshift: used temporarily for a particular purpose - ซึ่งทดแทนชั่วคราว, สำหรับใช้ชั่วคราว
- national: a citizen of a particular country - ประชาชน
- repatriate: to send or bring someone back to their own country - ส่งคนกลับประเทศ
- shelter: a temporary place to stay - ที่พักชั่วคราว
- solicit: to ask someone for something like money, information or help - เรียกร้อง