Transwomen caught on CCTV stealing Buddha statue from Thai temple

CCTV footage last night caught two Thai transwomen stealing a Buddha statue from Tha Kharm Temple in Chachoengsao province in the eastern region of Thailand.

A 52 year old monk, Tikhamporn Artsapo, noticed that a Buddha statue, Luang Por So Thorn, was missing from his temple today. So, he checked the temple’s CCTV footage and discovered that two transwomen stole the statue the night before and reported the issue to the Bang Pakong Police Station.

Two transwomen were seen riding their motorcycle into the temple at about 8.35pm on Monday, May 1. They got off their vehicle and wandered around the temple. They are then seen walking to the abbot’s accommodation but they did not find anything of value.

They then went to a temple pavilion where they found the Luang Por So Thorn statue. One of the transwomen took a picture of the statue before they left the temple on their motorcycle.

At 9.24pm the two transwomen returned to the temple. One of them grabbed the Luang Por So Thorn statue, covered it with a cloth and escaped from the scene.

The monk, Tikhamporn, later told police that he believed they stole the statue because they believed it was made of expensive brass. However, the statue was made of silica and not worth as much as they had expected. Tikhamporn said…

“The damage is not that high but the karma is very serious. They dared to steal from a temple. No fear of sin.”

The two transwomen are currently at large and the police are searching for them.

This incident is not an isolated one as there have been several reported thefts from temples and mosques in Thailand. In most cases, the thieves targeted donation boxes, not valuable statues.

For example, just four weeks ago a Thai man stole 30,000 baht from a donation box at the Darul Ibadah Mosque in Pattaya. In March, another thief stole 50,000 baht from the Wihan Siam temple. In February, the Suan Mokkh temple in Pattaya was robbed, while the Khao Phra Tamnak temple on Jomtien Beach lost around 50,000 baht in January.

Most temples in Thailand have installed security cameras in the main hall or near the donation boxes. However, these measures have not deterred thieves from stealing from the temples.