SAMUT PRAKAN: Immigration Police rounded up six Cambodian monks on Monday following public complaints they illegally entered the country to collect alms and money before sending it back to Cambodia.
The monks were nabbed at their camp in a wooded area on Bang Na-Trat Road near Suvarnabhumi airport by a team led by Pol Col Parinya Klinkaysorn, acting chief of Samut Prakan Immigration Police Office.
Police said they admitted to having illegally entered the country.
Officers took them to Wat Bang Chalong Nok in tambon Bang Chalong, where they were defrocked before being charged with illegal entry. They will be deported, police said.
The operation stemmed from public complaints that the monks were staying at a makeshift hut in the woods rather than in a temple, and had sent back money offered to them as alms to their families in Cambodia.