Four Monks Arrested in Buriram Drug Bust
Four monks were arrested across Buriram Province after police stopped a black sedan carrying 184 methamphetamine tablets, with investigation revealing the abbot had authorized drug purchases using temple fundraising money.
On September 18, Deputy Commander Suwat Nammongkol of Buriram Provincial Police, working with a joint task force including police units, soldiers, and narcotics officers, arrested four monks across multiple locations in Buriram Province. Officers recovered 184 methamphetamine tablets in total.
The operation began when authorities investigating a drug trafficking network tracked a suspicious black sedan heading toward a drug handoff point near the Mun River bridge between Khueang District and Phut Thai Song District. The vehicle violated traffic signals multiple times over a 40-kilometer pursuit before stopping at a traffic light in Chumhed Subdistrict, Muang District, Buriram.
Officers discovered two monks in the car: Phra Tang (Kittisak), 31, the driver, and Phra Phiao (Wachirawit), 22, a passenger. When stopped, Phra Tang dropped 10 methamphetamine tablets from a ziplock bag. During a search, officers found 89 tablets in a pink ziplock bag hidden in Phra Phiao's robes and another 82 tablets concealed under the car's console mat.
Examination of Phra Tang's phone revealed messages and money transfer records showing drug purchases coordinated with another monk at a temple in Phut Thai Song District. Messages also showed an abbot transferring funds to purchase the methamphetamine seized in this raid.
Phra Tang confessed the drugs had just been purchased from Phra Plai (Yutthana), 27, a novice monk at a temple in Ban Pao Subdistrict, Phut Thai Song District. When officers located Phra Plai during his alms round, he admitted he had delivered methamphetamine to Phra Tang the previous night, having purchased it from teenagers in the village for 3,800 baht per bag. Phra Plai said Phra Tang gave him 5 tablets, which he and another novice had consumed, leaving 2 tablets hidden in a phone box in his quarters along with drug paraphernalia.
The abbot later confessed to authorizing junior monks to purchase methamphetamine using money from temple fundraising activities.
