Police close in on 'monks' in central Auckland

Chen Ming Xin is taken away by police yesterday at Britomart. Photo / Dean Purcell

Law clamps down on group said to be aggressively asking for money in inner city.

A second man dressed in Buddhist monk robes who is alleged to have been aggressively soliciting donations in Queen St was questioned and taken away in a police vehicle yesterday evening.

The first man was given a police warning on Monday, and security officials employed by Auckland Council said they are on the hunt for a third person, believed to be a woman who dresses as a Buddhist nun.

"I can confirm Auckland Central Police have spoken to a man wearing a monk's robe about begging," said Auckland Acting Area Commander Gary Davey yesterday, in relation to the first warning.

"Police have asked the man to desist from begging and warned him that it is against the Auckland Council Bylaw to beg in a manner that amounts to a nuisance."

Yesterday, after being questioned by police for about 45 minutes inside the Britomart McDonald's, the second man, who claimed to be a Buddhist monk from Thailand, was escorted into a police car by two police officers and three security guards.

According to the man's identity documents sighted by the Herald, he was a 38-year-old Chinese national named Chen Ming Xin.

He entered New Zealand on a visitor's visa and arrived here on December 31, according to details in his People's Republic of China passport.

At first, he refused to disclose his identity or give his address of residence to the security officials, claiming he spoke no English.

When approached by the Herald yesterday about his behaviour, he said in Mandarin: "It's none of your business, I have nothing to do with you."

He claimed that as a monk, he did not need to have a fixed address of residence and "home is everywhere".

A woman, who was approached by a monk near Vulcan Lane at lunch time yesterday, said he "appeared angry" when she refused to give him cash.

"He kept pushing this little notebook in front of my face," the woman said.

"He wanted me to write an amount and contact number, I was really annoyed and afraid at the same time."

Last week another woman who spoke to the Herald said one of the monks followed her into a Queen St shop and asked her to get "cash out" from her Eftpos card after she told him that she had no cash.

A spokesman for the Thai Watyarnprateep Buddhist Temple in Kelston advised people against donating anything to the monks because "they could be imposters".