Phra Dhammachayo has been blacklisted and barred from leaving the country by the Immigration Bureau in the latest effort of law enforcement authorities to put pressure on the embattled abbot of Wat Dhammakaya.
Pol Gen Sivara Rangsipromnakul, the national deputy police chief, said Friday that the Department of Special Investigation had already lodged complaints with Klong Luang police against followers of Dhammakaya who had obstructed DSI officials in their attempt to search the temple to look for its abbot on Thursday.
Police are now trying to identify the people shown in their video clips and photos allegedly obstructing the DSI officials and will summon them to acknowledge the charges against them, said the deputy police chief, adding that police would try to find out if there are masterminds behind the followers’ resistance.
Regarding the failed raid on Thursday, Pol Gen Sivara admitted he was satisfied with the overall performance of the officials involved in the raid because there was no violence nor were there third hand elements present at the temple.
Meanwhile, Pol Col Krisana Pattanacharoen, deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Police Office, said that the DSI had not yet asked for police support for their second search of the temple.
