Wat Phra Dhammakaya partly on public land

Wat Phra Dhammakaya partly on public land

An aerial photograph show backhoes at the gate and disciples sitting inside to prevent authorities from entering Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani in June last year. (File photo by Krit Promsaka na Sakolnakorn)
An aerial photograph show backhoes at the gate and disciples sitting inside to prevent authorities from entering Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani in June last year. (File photo by Krit Promsaka na Sakolnakorn)

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and police have found some buildings in the vast Wat Phra Dhammakaya compound in Pathum Thani province encroach on a public canal and some public land.

DSI director-general Paisit Wongmuang said on Tuesday that DSI officials on maps and the environment examined aerial photographs of Wat Phra Dhammakaya with deputy police chief Srivara Ransibhramanakul and found that a building of the temple had been constructed over a public canal and some structures encroached on public land.

He referred to the 2,000-rai compound of Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Khlong Luang district of Pathum Thani.

Pol Col Paisit did not give a timeframe on the arrest of Phra Dhammajayo, a former abbot of the temple. He said that authorities were assessing their readiness and he could not reveal the timeframe.

The arrest had been delayed for nearly a year as crowds of followers managed to form human shields whenever authorities declared they would search the temple for the former abbot.

A source at the Justice Ministry said that for the arrest soldiers would block outside followers from entering the temple and police would move other followers out of the compound to prepare for the arrest.

Phra Dhammajayo, 72, was wanted for several arrest warrants as the meditation centres of his temple allegedly encroached on forest reserves in Loei, Nakhon Ratchasima and Phangnga provinces and he was charged with laundering money and receiving stolen assets in connection with multi-billion-baht embezzlement at the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative.

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