According to English daily The Star, the organised crime gang, believed to be working with local accomplices, bring crippled individuals into the country on tourist visas and make them beg in holiday hotspots around the country, including Malacca’s Jonker Walk, Kuala Lumpur’s Petaling Street and several places in Penang.

According to the report, the beggars are put up in hotel rooms or homeshare units, just like other tourists, while they are in the country to ply their trade.

The daily’s team followed two beggars from China for two days and related how 30 physically-disabled and disfigured individuals converged at a budget hotel in Petaling Street and were later joined by a burly man, believed to be one of the brothers, who later left the hotel after collecting cash from the individuals.

With the help of a restaurant worker there, the team managed to speak to two beggars who were part of the syndicate.

One of them, who identified himself as Xiu Yuan, 33, from China, said he was born healthy but was abducted as a child, and kept captive by the gang for many years, before being crippled and sent out to beg.

Another, who identified himself as Do Feng, 30, from Zhengzhou, said the beggars were required to collect a minimum of RM1,200 a day at tourist hotspots in KL, Johor Bahru and Penang, where they were ferried to in taxis arranged by gang leaders.

Half of their day’s collection, plus 10 per cent for the taxi fare if only a minimal collection was achieved, was taken by the gang leader while the beggars are given time off to rest. According to Do Feng, he could make up to RM3,000 on weekends.

While the elder brother “manages” the syndicate’s general operations, the younger brother is in charge of bringing in new beggars to work for the syndicate, said the report.

Do Feng also called Malaysia his “second home”, and said he and the other beggars typically spent a month in Malaysia before being sent back so new faces could be brought in to take over. He said that after two months, he would be sent back to Malaysia to begin the process all over again.

Both men said they often frequented the massage parlours along Petaling Street as a means to unwind after a begging session but lamented they often had to pay more for services than able-bodied customers as the masseuses there did not like getting close to them because of their disabilities and disfigurements.