Eighteen monks have been arrested by the police in their latest campaign to "sweep" the monkhood, which has been plagued with allegations of fraud and sexual abuse.
The crackdown, spearheaded by the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), targeted individuals who are wanted for various criminal offences but who managed to get themselves ordained to avoid getting arrested.
"By 'sweeping' these temples, we want to bring these individuals to justice and 'clean up' the temples from immoral behaviour," said CSD chief Chiraphon Phuridet yesterday.
Among the 18 suspects are Phra Boonchu, a 48-year-old monk in a temple in Kalasin, who was later identified as Boonchu Champasi.
According to investigators, Mr Boonchu assaulted his rival with a glass bottle before getting ordained to escape an arrest warrant issued by Rayong Provincial Court in 2014 for attempted murder.
A background check revealed that Mr Boonchu has been running from another murder charge for 15 years, Pol Maj Gen Chiraphop said.
CSD police also nabbed Phra Kongchatphong, a 35-year-old monk in Songkhla, who previously went by the name Khongchatphong Suwannaphak.
He was accused of conning customers into buying bogus package tours to many countries, including South Korea in 2013, police said.
His victims filed complaints with the police after losing contact with him. Investigators later found him hiding in a temple in this southernmost province.
Phra Manat Suchitto, 44, was also arrested for sexually harassing a 10-year-old girl last year during his monkhood, Pol Maj Gen Chiraphop said.
The victim lived with her grandmother, who runs a grocery shop near his temple in Bangkok.
"Phra Manat told the victim to deliver some groceries to the temple, and tried to rape her," he said. "The girl luckily managed to escape."
After the incident, the monk left Bangkok to stay at a temple in Nakhon Ratchasima.
"Most of the suspects arrested in the latest sweep have confessed to their wrongdoings," Pol Maj Gen Chiraphop said.
All of the monks nabbed in the sweep have been defrocked.