Police in Thailand have arrested a girl they are saying seduced and had sexual relationships with Buddhist monks after which used movies and images taken in the course of the intercourse acts to blackmail them for tens of millions of {dollars}.
Wilawan Emsawat allegedly had intercourse with no less than 9 abbots and senior monks, police stated at a press convention on Tuesday. They consider she obtained round 385 million baht (roughly C$16.25 million) over the previous three years. Police stated she spent nearly all of the funds she obtained on on-line playing web sites.
The scandal, which first got here to police consideration in mid-June, has rocked Thailand’s revered Buddhist establishment. Monks function underneath a strict celibacy rule, and people discovered caught up within the violations have been disrobed and solid out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau stated.
Scandals involving monks floor just a few occasions a yr in Thailand however often don’t contain senior members of the clergy. The case additionally places a highlight on the big sums of cash donated to temples managed by abbots, which is in marked distinction to the abstemious lives they’re supposed to guide underneath their faith’s precepts.
Wilawan intentionally focused senior monks for monetary acquire, police stated, noting they discovered that a number of monks had transferred massive quantities of cash after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them.
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Investigators who searched her home discovered greater than 80,000 images and movies used to blackmail the monks, the police spokesman stated.
Police stated they first started trying into the case after an abbot at a well-known Bangkok temple abruptly left the monkhood final month.
A screengrab constituted of the livestream of Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau holding a press convention in Bangkok, on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, concerning the arrest of a girl concerned in a intercourse scandal that brought on a number of senior monks to depart monkhood.
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Of their investigation, they discovered the departed abbot had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan. She had advised the monk she was pregnant and requested him for 7.2 million baht (greater than C$300,000) in assist funds, Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, advised reporters at a information convention.
Police believed “this girl is harmful and we would have liked to arrest her as quickly as attainable,” Jaroonkiat stated.
Performing Thai prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to evaluation and think about tightening present legal guidelines associated to monks and temples, particularly the transparency of temple funds, to revive religion in Buddhism, authorities spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub stated Tuesday.
The Central Investigation Bureau has arrange a Fb web page for individuals to report monks who misbehave, Jaroonkiat stated.
“We’ll examine monks throughout the nation,” he stated. “I consider that the ripple results of this investigation will result in a variety of adjustments.”
Wilawan is now dealing with fees of extortion, cash laundering and receiving stolen items.
— With information from The Related Press
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