KHON KAEN: Police are hunting a man believed to impersonate a monk and stole money from a temple as it was holding a merit-making ceremony.
Wat Ban Nong Toom in Muang district hosted the ceremony on Saturday by inviting monks in the neighbourhood and Bangkok to take part in the event.
As all were out to receive alms in front of the main Buddha statue, one was captured by a surveillance camera inside the two-storey residence of Phra Khru Soonthorn Seeriwong, the temple abbot.
The man stole 10,000 baht in cash from the sack of the temple's chief and another 20,000 from three monks living upstairs, according to a report filed to police by the temple.
"We watched the closed-circuit camera. We haven't seen him before," said Phra Sunaimeth Sasanasiri, the abbot's secretary. "I guess he dressed like a monk to do this by targeting cash in the sacks only."
Pol Col Pankrit Wichayacheewin, the Muang Mai police station chief, said the pictures captured from the CCTV had been sent out to other stations.
"The suspect is between 25-30 years old. As other monks and villagers have not seen him before, we believe he was a thief dressing like a monk on the merit-making day," he added.