Cops Want To Arrest Fugitive Abbot; Monks Say No; Cops Meekly Obey

[Flashermac]

BANGKOK — A high-profile police operation to arrest an influential monk implicated in a massive embezzlement scheme came to a farcical end Thursday when his followers simply refused to let them through.

 

Investigators now say they’re mulling another attempt to arrest Dhammachayo, the 72-year-old abbot of the Dhammakaya Temple, who has repeatedly refused to turn himself in to police since the court approved his arrest warrant three weeks ago.

 

Police entered the massive UFO-like headquarters of Dhammachayo’s Buddhist sect in northern Bangkok at around 9am Thursday with a search warrant. Monks at first promised full cooperation with police, but by afternoon officers ran into resistance from a group of laymen who blocked the gate to the abbot’s office.

 

Phra Sanitwong Wutthiwangso told reporters that he and police officers tried to negotiate with disciples to allow the officers to enter and conduct a search, but the request was refused.

 

“I can’t do anything, because those disciples are more senior than me, and they have been contributing a lot to Dhammakaya Temple before I got here,†Santiwong said.

 

Faced with an immovable barrier, police said they had no choice but to retreat, citing the need to avoid violent confrontation.

 

“The incident dragged on until afternoon because there were many disciples, and we have to think about security,†said Suriya Singhakamol, deputy chief of the Department of Special Investigation, or DSI, which heads the investigation into Dhammachayo.

 

Suriya said officers may file a charge of obstruction of justice against the resisting disciples, depending on their “intention.â€

 

“We will deliberate whether the obstruction was done with an innocent intention,†Suriya said. He also blamed the rainstorm as a factor that complicated the police operation.

 

Dhammachayo was identified as one of the main recipients of hundreds of checks worth 11 billion baht sent by the former president of a credit union since convicted of embezzlement. For his alleged action, the abbot is charged with money laundering and receiving embezzled funds.

 

But Dhammachayo, who is regarded by his followers as a mystic saint, has vehemently denied the allegations. His ecclesiastical office has said he and other monks were not aware that the donations were tainted.

 

After the court approved a warrant to arrest warrant him on May 17, Dhammachayo refused to surrender himself, saying he was too ill to meet with police. The DSI moved to look for him today following a court-approved search warrant issued yesterday.

 

Despite failure by police to arrest Dhammachayo today, Sriwarah Rangsipramkul, deputy chief of Royal Thai Police, said he wouldn’t call the operation a failure because no violence broke out.

 

“As for whether the DSI regards this operation as a failure, it depends on the deliberation of the team and the media,†Sriwarah said.

 

He added that police will try to mount another operation at Dhammakaya Temple when the time is right.

 

 

 

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2016/06/16/cops-want-arrest-fugitive-abbot-monks-say-no-cops-meekly-obey/

[radioman]

There seems to be something nutty going on here.

 

I don't know Thai law but fairly sure there should be something in it somewhere about obstruction of justice.

The arrest warrant is legit so anyone preventing it being executed is obstructing.

Fill up the paddy wagons, cart their arses of to gaol, let them sweat it out with the prospect of a fat fine. 50k a pop should do for a start.

I'd go a bit further. The law is presumably endorsed by even the highest authority as being the law. Therefore any attempt to subvert it is an insult to those who would endorse it. Charge them all with LM.

[Flashermac]

This cult (what it really is) is the closest thing Thailand has to the TV evangelists. It virtually promises its members instant Nirvana ... provided they are generous enough. It appeals mainly appeals to the yuppie times, and the situation is made worse by the fact that Thammakaya is said to have ties to Thaksin and the Red Shirts.

[YimSiam]

 

I don't know Thai law but fairly sure there should be something in it somewhere about obstruction of justice.

 

 

There's not really much of a thing as "Thai law" - it's what you can negotiate, taking into account all the variables and dynamics - written law and the decisions of courts are only one thin layer of the powers that contribute to 'Thai law", I think.

 

Seems to me - and I have not paid any attention to the role of the monks in the ongoing struggle for power, neither the yellow patriarch-types nor the more rouge-y new-school monks like Dhammakaya (and presumably others). Even with the Dhammakaya guys being (I assume) somehow contra the mainstream, I assume they are still pretty much monks in the eyes of the people, which makes use of force or violence a pretty negative thing for the authorities - gotta negotiate something if they want them at all, and that will result in a reasonably mild result for the Dhammakaya types, perhaps.

 

Just thoughts here - guesses, no background on this stuff, though I assume it's an interesting tangle!

[pasathai1]

mix laws and religion and justice goes out with the rubbish

[Flashermac]

The press is a bit bizarre calling the abbot a "fugitive". He is just the opposite, staying inside the temple and refusing to go anywhere.

 

p.s. And note the Red Shirt ties. Police? Chalerm? Thaksin? Any conflict of interest?

[StoneSoup]

Well, now that they have cleared a hundred plus tigers from the tiger temple, what are they going to do with all the tigers? I suggest that the police create some cages on wheels, put the tigers in the cages, and drive them up to the temple. Position the tiger cages in an arc around half of the crowd. Make sure the tigers haven't been fed, and are hungry. Then tell the crowd that if they aren't gone in 15 minutes, the tiger cages will be opened, and tigers will be encouraged top go forage for food.

[Flashermac]

You're not from Rome. are you.

[YimSiam]

Well, now that they have cleared a hundred plus tigers from the tiger temple, what are they going to do with all the tigers? I suggest that the police create some cages on wheels, put the tigers in the cages, and drive them up to the temple. Position the tiger cages in an arc around half of the crowd. Make sure the tigers haven't been fed, and are hungry. Then tell the crowd that if they aren't gone in 15 minutes, the tiger cages will be opened, and tigers will be encouraged top go forage for food.

 

I suspect the problem those tigers are facing is mainly drug withdrawal, from whatever it was that was ensuring that they would just loll around half-asleep while people lay on them and snapped photos... but yeah, could be hungry, too! Jonesing hungry tigers, nothing to play with...

[Flashermac]

I haven't heard any reports of drugs being found there, but it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe ganja instead of catnip.