Thai monk’s high crimes: Temple trouble over explicit posts & drugs

Police arrested a Thai monk at a temple in the Isaan province of Sa Kaeo for sharing explicit content on social media platforms and using drugs. The monk admitted to having sex with many men during his monkhood and infecting them with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Twitter account Red Skull shared explicit pictures of the Thai monk, later identified as 24 year old Warut, on May 13. Warut shared pictures of himself naked and pictures of his private parts on his Facebook account.

Warut also shared a picture of a young novice sleeping with him at the temple, raising concerns about child sex abuse. The post went viral among Thai netizens, prompting relevant authorities to conduct further investigation, which led to Warut’s arrest on Tuesday, June 11.

High-Tech Crime Division officers raided Warut’s accommodation at a temple in Sa Kaeo province, finding him present on the premises.

During questioning, Warut openly shared some startling details with the authorities. He disclosed his sexual orientation, revealing that he was attracted to men, and admitted to a past where he had engaged in intimate encounters with several individuals while residing at a temple in Bangkok. Shockingly, Warut confessed to unknowingly transmitting HIV to some of his partners, having contracted the virus at the age of 17.

In another surprising admission, Warut confessed to sharing explicit content, including images and videos of himself engaging in sexual activities, on Twitter. However, some of the explicit media were still on his Facebook account.

Officers searched his place and discovered many condoms along with drug paraphernalia. Warut claimed that he had brought the paraphernalia with him when he moved from Bangkok to Sa Kaeo but that he had already quit drug use.

Police did not reveal whether the young novice in the picture was a victim of Warut’s child sex abuse. Channel 7 reported that Warut was charged under Section 14(4) of the Computer Act for importing indecent information into the computer system, which the public is likely to access. The penalty could be imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht.