Fake monks solicit cash donations for drug money
In Rayong province, police raided a temple where Cambodian border hoppers were impersonating monks to collect money for drugs. Five fake monks were arrested at Wat Khao Bo Thong in the Klaeng district yesterday morning. Many others fled and got away.
Residents became suspicious of the monks at the temple when they refused traditional alms like food and water and supplies, insisting that they only accepted monetary donations. It turned out that the reason is that snacks can’t buy drugs, so the monks needed cold, hard cash.
When Rayong Police approached the temple, which is located on a mountainside, the monks saw them coming. Most managed to scramble up the mountain and into hiding. Police estimated about ten suspicious monks were able to avoid being taken into custody.
The five imposter holy men were asked for monk certificate papers and all of them failed to produce them. On further questioning, they confessed that they had snuck across the Cambodian border illegally. The five were ordered to leave the temple and the monkhood immediately.
They were all drug tested as well and two of them were found to be on drugs. They admitted to taking the methamphetamine commonly known in Thailand as yabba. The faux monks said they bought the drugs for 40 baht a dose.
Police had been receiving complaints about the temple with many people in the area grumbling that the imposters were behaving in manners unbecoming of real monks. They were very suspicious of the refusal to accept any donations except cash.
The Pattaya News reports that the pseudo monks crossed illegally from Cambodia a decade ago and had spent the last ten years living this way in the temple.
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