Buddhist monks who allegedly murdered people, enjoyed sex

Buddhist monks who allegedly murdered people, enjoyed sex with women and, in a macabre ritual, roasted a dead baby have wreaked hell on Thai society and its saffron-robed clergy.
On Monday (October 30), police arrested a Buddhist abbot for allegedly killing a woman whose body was found a week earlier inside a septic tank at a neighbor's home.
Police seized Abbot Adhikan Arn Wattanadhammo, 46, in Petchabun town while he reportedly tried to burn bloodstained clothing and destroy a ring inscribed with the dead woman's surname.
"Buddhist leaders face major crisis of faith," warned the respected Nation newspaper in an editorial.
"There was the monk who roasted dead babies in order to collect their oil to be used in spurious magical ceremonies," the editorial added. "And then there was the monk who committed necrophilia in coffins in his temple.
"These are but two of the most bizarre incidences in recent years which have caused the monkhood to suffer a serious loss of credibility." The paper lamented, "Barely a week goes by without some kind of monastic scandal."

It demanded punishment for all monks who commit "blatant fraud and theft" by using donated funds to finance disreputable lifestyles.

The latest abbot-linked murder comes during a week of widespread media coverage showing a different abbot being arrested and disrobed for allegedly having sex with several women, while masquerading as a special forces colonel.