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.
Navy Police arrested 3 men masquerading as monks allegedly to swindle Sattahip Market shoppers.
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.
