https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3201416/thailand-temple-left-empty-after-all-its-monks-fail-drug-tests?module=more_top_stories_asia&pgtype=homepage
Thailand temple left empty after all its monks fail drug tests
- Four monks including an abbot at a temple in central Thailand tested positive for methamphetamine, a district official said
- Thailand is a major transit country for methamphetamine flooding in from Myanmar’s Shan state via Laos, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime
A Buddhist temple in central Thailand has been left without monks after all its holy men failed drug tests and were defrocked, a local official said Tuesday.
Four monks including an abbot at a temple in Phetchabun province’s Bung Sam Phan district tested positive for methamphetamine on Monday, district official Boonlert Thintapthai said.
The monks were sent to a health clinic to undergo drug rehabilitation, the official said.
“The temple is now empty of monks and nearby villagers are concerned they cannot do any merit-making,” he said.
Merit-making involves worshippers donating food to monks as a good deed.
Boonlert said more monks will be sent to the temple to allow villagers to practise their religious obligations.
Thailand is a major transit country for methamphetamine flooding in from Myanmar’s troubled Shan state via Laos, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
On the street, pills sell for less than 20 baht (around US$0.50).
Authorities across Southeast Asia have made record meth seizures in recent years.
Last December, Thai authorities seized crystal methamphetamine with a street value of almost US$30 million stuffed inside boxing punch bags bound for Australia.
Foreign nationals have also been caught on drugs charges. In August, a Chinese couple was arrested for trying to smuggle 4.19kg of heroin through a mail package to Australia.
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