At South Pattaya’s Wat Chaimongkol Market,
vendors complain that child and disabled beggars operate with impunity,
protected by moneyed criminals.
Ekachai Sukwattana
Pattaya’s outdoor markets are becoming as well known
for professional beggars as they are for fresh fruit and good deals.
At South Pattaya’s Wat Chaimongkol Market, vendors
complain that child and disabled beggars operate with impunity,
protected by moneyed criminals and unaffected by sporadic city
enforcement patrols.
Lek Intarasorn, 54, said she’s been selling fruit at
the market for 20 years and that the begging operation is now a
permanent fixture. Connected underworld figures bring in a steady stream
of kids and disabled people to solicit donations, taking in more than
1,000 baht each a day.
Operating from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., the beggars are
alerted by lookouts of city inspectors coming their way. And when the
beggars begin looking healthy again after too many days of free food -
they’re shipped out for more feeble replacements, she said.
There’s little the city can actually do about the
problem. There is no law on the books preventing begging. Police can
only sweep them off the streets, deport illegal aliens and go after
cases in which there is clear evidence of human trafficking.