A Buddhist monk has been arrested on charges of using and selling methamphetamine pills in a village in the northeastern Thai province of Chaiyaphum.
The 40-year-old monk identified as Phra Suthorn, who lived at a local monastery, had been selling meth pills known in Thailand as ya ba, or “crazy medicine,” to teenagers in the village, according to police.
Law enforcement authorities decided to investigate the monk following several complaints by locals about his activities earlier this week.
Phra Suthorn denied the charges but a subsequent search of his living quarters revealed a plastic packet with 36 meth pills stored under his bed.
The monk then confessed, telling investigators that he had been both selling the drugs and using them himself, police said.
He has since been defrocked and is now facing several charges including the possession of illegal narcotics with intent to sell them.
I know for a fact this is not an isolated incident. There are many more monks like that all over the country
Buddhist monks are widely revered in Thailand, yet scandals involving men of the cloth are common, including the use and sale of narcotics by some monks.
Last November, the abbot of a Buddhist temple in Chumphon, a southern province, was arrested and charged with the possession of illicit substances after he was found by police to have stored methamphetamine pills in his living quarters along with paraphernalia for drug use.
In that case too, the discovery came after complaints by locals about drug use among monks at the temple.
Three other monks at the monastery in a rural area were also found to have been using narcotics, which is against the tenets of Buddhism and is forbidden for monastics.
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“I know for a fact this is not an isolated incident. There are many more monks like that all over the country,” a Thai commenter noted.
“They [police] should go to every temple and check them all. Many convicts end up in temples after their release and many children brought up in these temples end up becoming convicts. My brother-in-law is one of them.”
A senior Buddhist monk was arrested in December 2020 after he was found to be involved in drug trafficking.
The clergyman, who was from the northern province of Chiang Rai, was apprehended after police discovered 4.8 million methamphetamine pills in a minivan used by the monk and his accomplices during a search of the vehicle.
I used to think that monks were to be respected. I have changed my mind
The illicit drugs, which were meant for sale, had been packed into cardboard boxes and police also found a handgun with 14 bullets.
The monk’s role in assisting drug traffickers was to sit in the van as the narcotics were delivered from one area of Thailand to another so that his presence in the vehicle would deflect attention from its contents at police checkpoints.
These and other scandals involving monks have eroded respect for Buddhist clergymen at least among some residents of the country, based on comments posted online.
“I used to think that monks were to be respected. I have changed my mind,” one commenter noted.
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