Social Development and Human Security Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said on Tuesday a multi-agency enforcement blitz involving police and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration would be conducted regularly to arrest alms seekers.
Varawut said foreigners swept up in the raids would be deported to their countries while locals head to state-run shelters where they receive vocational training to help them find work.
But the minister acknowledged that the measures may not deter repeat offenders who managed to pocket more than the fines they had to pay.
Under Thai laws, begging can be punished by up to one-month imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 10,000 baht.
Varawut said the influx of travellers to the kingdom, a mainstay of its economy, also compounded the problem as more people resort to street begging that involves children and pets.
He called on residents to lend a hand to tackle the scourge that has become widespread in areas frequented by tourists.
“In the last 10 years, we have picked up about 7,000 beggars, of whom about 30 per cent were foreigners,” Varawut said.
He added some make as much as 100,000 baht a month during the peak holiday season, suspecting organised crime gangs were deploying beggars in prime locations like upscale shopping centres in Bangkok.
Thailand’s sandy beaches have drawn more than 9 million foreign visitors in the first quarter of the year, and the tourism ministry expects to attract about 36 million travellers by the end of this year.
Police arrested on Tuesday a blind Cambodian woman and her daughter for begging at a market in central Thailand’s Samut Prakan province.
Officers also charged the pair, who earned at least 3,000 baht a day, with illegal entry into the country.
In January, 11 Cambodians, including four children, were rounded up during an anti-begging operation on the island resort of Pattaya.
An official from the Bangkok Social Development Office said the agency has teamed up with NGOs to offer health check-ups and counselling to beggars and hold campaigns discouraging almsgiving in public places, the Khaosod news site reported.