Discussed: 16 May 2025 at 13: 04
As police expand the inspection and uncover more information about gambling sites and those involved, Phra Thamma Wachiranuwat, the disgraced priest of Wat Rai Khing in Thailand’s Nakhon Pathom state, has been disrobed for supposedly embezzling 300 million ringgit from church money to gamble online.
In front of a Buddhist memorial at 8.42pm on Thursday, the 70-year-old bishop of the renowned Buddhist temple actually disrobed from the monastery in front of members of the press.
On Thursday, Phra Thamma Wachiranuwat, known as” Chao Khun Yaem,” turned himself in to Bangkok officers as they approached him to request an arrest warrant for allegedly extorting money from the church.
The original priest, whose real name is Yaem Inkrungkao, admitted to transferring hundreds of millions of ringgit to a minute think, a close female associate, in 2021 during police interrogation.
According to the police investigation, funds were transferred from the monument’s bank account to his personal profile and then to the woman’s. She is suspected of running gaming sites.
A search operation at Wat Rai Khing was led by Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew, the deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau ( CIB ), on Friday, expanding the investigation’s scope to include additional data on financial connections to gambling platforms.
Officials examined four places, three inside the church grounds and one outside. Their main concern was the original abbot’s religious home, which he also held as chancellor of Ecclesiastical Region 14. Police were assisted by the temple’s associate priest in gaining access to the original abbot’s living quarters during the hunt.
Authorities searched Phra Thamma Wachiranuwat, the priest of Wat Rai Khing in Nakhon Pathom’s religious residence on Friday. ( Photo provided/Wassayos Ngamkham )
For investigation, they seized some paperwork, including a laptop, mobile telephones, and other electronic devices.
According to Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat, the hunt was intended to question people who held those addresses and gather information about the money path to another bank accounts. The officers may concentrate on cash transactions made through gaming websites.
According to reports, the original bishop had requested a fellow priest to give money to the nearby women affiliate in order to add credit to a gambling website. The victim’s account was allegedly accessed by at least 31 million baht, despite the disappearance of the other monk, who was a member of the same monk’s group.
Aranyawan Wangthapan, 28, was detained by police on Thursday in connection with the incident. Prior to being detained last year for allegedly working with the Lagalaxy911 gaming website, Ms. Aranyawan was eventually released on bail.
Three businesses reportedly laundered money through this betting website, according to the woman, were connected to them. Police claim that over 800 million ringgit had been circulated between the three companies over the past five decades.
According to the authorities, Ms. Aranyawan acknowledged during questioning that she had known the original Wat Rai Khing priest since she had attended Wat Rai Khing School. In 2021, she had initially borrowed 40 million ringgit from him to invest. She had since then gotten in touch with him often via phone and video calling.
Aranyawan Wangthapan, 28, a female affiliate of the bishop of Wat Rai Khing, is being detained by police in Pattaya on Thursday. ( Photo provided/Wassayos Ngamkham )