More @ http://tinyurl.
com/bogusbust
http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/operation-bogus-bust-part-2/
More Policing Against Bogus Monastics
Needed
From the complaints of various
friends, the appearance of bogus monastics or so-called ‘Buddhist
monks and nuns (in white)’ is clearly still a recurring problem in
Singapore. They thrive partly due to the still prevalent ignorance
of the public that they are unholy confidence tricksters in
disguise. As such, it would be good if the Singapore Police Force
(SPF) regularly reminds the public via various media that such
criminals should be reported and not supported.
This is especially so as under the
Miscellaneous Offences Act, ‘anyone who collects alms or solicits
charitable contributions under false pretences can be fined up to
$2,000 or jailed up to three months, or both.’ Educational posters
created by SPF in various languages put up at public places of
worship and housing estates could prove useful in stamping out
bogus monastics too.
In the past, bogus monastics usually
stood stationary at busy public places to solicit for money
(instead of food or basic non-monetary daily requisites, which is
what genuine monastics would seek locally). However, after some
legal scares, these criminals are much smarter nowadays, by being
mobile with their bowls, moving from place to place. With this
change in their methodology, it is much harder to apprehend them,
even when the police are called for.
If the police wish to more
conscientiously trace and weed out these increasingly cunning
illegal elements, they ought to respond to calls upon sightings of
bogus monastics by arriving swiftly in plain clothes to tail bogus
monastics to their headquarters. From personal experience a few
years back, I once called the police for investigating the
identities of two bogus monastics, who were standing outside the
popular temple at Waterloo Street. To my surprise, they had
informers. Upon sighting two uniformed policemen some fifty metres
away, the ‘monks’ fled, while the police arrived puzzled at the
empty crime scene.
