Pulling the tiger’s whiskers! A fake monk was holding a donation envelope and collecting money at the Hua Hin Tourist Police Station. The Hua Hin Police Station coordinated with the police to arrest him while he was collecting money at a school. He confessed that he had never been ordained and was just looking for a robe to wear. He had been arrested for the same case in Chumphon.

Hua Hin Tourist Police, along with Hua Hin Police Station officers, jointly arrested Mr. Wichai, 29 years old, from Nakhon Sawan Province, on charges of dressing or using symbols that indicate that he is a monk, novice, ascetic or cleric of any religion inappropriately in order to make other people believe that he is such a person, and fraud. The evidence included robes, an upper robe, an undershirt, a waist belt, a donation envelope and a certificate from a monastery in Sam Roi Yot District, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. The arrest was made while he was collecting money at a school on Phetkasem Road, Hua Hin District, Prachuap Kh
iri Khan Province.

Before that, Mr. Wichai disguised himself as a monk, carrying a donation envelope and a certificate from the temple, and went to ask for donations at the Hua Hin Tourist Police Station, claiming that he wanted to use it to build a restroom and pay the electricity bill. The police collected 430 baht, put it in an envelope and gave it to him. Mr. Wichai seemed suspiciously flustered, so they checked with the temple and found out that the temple did not organize a donation event. They called the Hua Hin Police Station on the radio to ask them to investigate monks collecting donations in the area. They found a man dressed like a monk as reported in the area of ??the school, so they went to check and found that he was the same person who had come to collect donations at the Hua Hin Tourist Police Station, so they brought him in for questioning.

Mr. Wichai confessed that he was not a monk, but simply wore his robes, upper robes, and undershirts like a monk to make it easier to collect donations
. In the past, he had received a lot of money until he was arrested. He had been arrested in the same case in Chumphon Province. The police therefore took the suspect to the Hua Hin Police Station for legal proceedings and to follow up on the investigation because it is expected that there are many other people involved in the gang.

From questioning the suspect, it was learned that he hired someone to design and print about 500 envelopes, which were distributed. Today, he went around collecting envelopes from various places. It can be said that the perpetrator was very confident, daring to come and solicit money from the police and trying to confirm that he had received approval from the monastery. Checking the CCTV footage, it was found that Mr. Wichai was dressed like a monk and traveled in a black sedan with the driver waiting at the car. Mr. Wichai got out to solicit money. When he received the money, he drove away.

Source: Thai News Agency