About 90% of child beggars in Thailand are Cambodians who are "rented" from their parents by gangs exploiting their innocence to serve their human trafficking-related business, according to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).
Despite crackdowns and the deportation of children back to their home country, the gangs still manage to get the kids back to Thailand so they can resume the illegal activity, said Komvich Padhanarath, acting director of the DSI's Anti-Human Trafficking Centre.
"Foreign beggars are arrested, deported and brought back again in an endless cycle," he said. It is not easy to cope with the issue, Pol Lt Col Komvich admitted.
A recent DSI operation in Pattaya in Chon Buri, supported by Pattaya police, cut the number of beggars in the resort city to some extent. However, the gangsters simply relocated their business to other tourist areas in Phuket, Bangkok and its neighbouring provinces.
Prime locations include the foreigner-crowded Nana area and Soi Cowboy in Bangkok and Samut Prakan's Samrong area.
According to the DSI's investigation, the beggars usually live on Ramkhamhaeng Road in Bang Kapi district and are taken to those areas where restaurants and pubs are located.
"We've found these Cambodian children were rented, or even bought, from their parents," Pol Lt Col Komvich said.
Those who lease their children to the gangs are given monthly payments but the young beggars will not be given wages.
In many cases, they do not simply sit and wait for money but are forced to approach tourists.
It is possible some children accompany their mothers to beg in Thailand, but their relationship in such cases must be verified through a DNA test, Pol Lt Col Komvich said.
Otherwise, if the children are rented and smuggled into Thailand, those responsible can be charged with human trafficking, he said.