Jakarta –
A small Thai temple is currently empty with no monks inside after all failed drug tests, local officials say.
Four monks, including the abbot, tested positive for methamphetamine, a substance contained in crystal methamphetamine, a local official told the news agency AFP extension. The temple they occupy is located in Phetchabun province in northern Thailand.
Official Boonlert Thintapthai said the monks were then sent to a health facility to undergo drug rehabilitation.
The mass narcotics tests, including on monks, come amid a nationwide campaign to eradicate the narcotics trade.
The monks were reportedly ejected from the temple after police conducted a urine test on Monday (11/28). Authorities did not provide details as to why the temple was targeted by police.
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Thintapthai said AFP extension that “the temple is now empty because there are no more monks and the inhabitants of the nearby villages are worried that they cannot give alms”.
Charity is an important practice in Buddhism. In this practice, devotees will gain protective powers through good deeds, including giving food to monks.
However, Thintapthai said the local government has turned to the region’s abbot for help, who has promised to assign new monks to the monastery in Bung Sam Phan district.
In recent years, methamphetamine has become a major problem in Thailand. Drug seizures hit a record high in 2021, according to the United Nations Agency on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
This country is a major transit point for crystal methamphetamine. These narcotics have flooded Thailand from Myanmar – the largest meth-producing country – via Laos.
Methamphetamine in pill form is then sold on the street for about 50 Baht or equivalent to Rp.22,000.
Last month, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha declared war on illegal drugs after a police officer was fired from his force for methamphetamine use.
The former policeman was also the one who carried out the massacre in an early childhood education center that killed 37 children.
(it it)
