Navy Police arrested 3 men
masquerading as monks allegedly to swindle Sattahip Market shoppers.
Patcharapol Panrak
Royal Thai Navy officers arrested three men masquerading as monks allegedly to
swindle Sattahip Market shoppers out of funds they claimed would go to a
Kanchanaburi temple.
Manit Keowsen, 32, Pattana Chujit, 30, and Songkran Klaisingh, 19, were captured
following complaints from market vendors about “weird” monks asking for money.
The three men had been wandering around the market, offering donation envelopes
for people to contribute money toward construction of a new building at the Khao
Tao Samphao Thong Temple in Kanchanaburi.
Officers said that, when they approached the men, they acted strangely, did not
speak in a monk-like manner and acted as if they were hiding something. The
three were taken into custody to check their credentials.
Not only were all three found not to be certified monks, officials from Khao Tao
Samphao Thong Temple said they never authorized anyone to solicit donations on
their behalf.
The navy said the three confessed to the scam, admitting that when they heard
about the Kanchanaburi construction project they requested 800 donation
envelopes from the temple, then targeted Sattahip, figuring military personnel
would donate larger sums of money. They ended up collecting nothing before being
busted.
