Crime Kanchanaburi Monastery Head Arrested in Illegal Migrant Smuggling Operation

[Georgealbert]

 

Picture courtesy of Khaosod.

 

Police in Kanchanaburi have arrested the abbot of a local Buddhist monastery retreat in connection with a human smuggling operation, uncovering a group of 33 illegal migrants who had been hiding within temple grounds.

 

The arrests came after highway police operating along Route 323, heading towards Kanchanaburi town, flagged two suspicious vehicles, a white Isuzu pickup truck registered in Bangkok and a Toyota car registered in Kanchanaburi. The vehicles were intercepted near Wang Yai village, in Tha Sao subdistrict of Sai Yok district, a known surveillance zone for illicit cross-border activities.

 

Officers from Kanchanaburi Highway Police, supported by local administrative authorities, pursued the vehicles and tracked them to Wat Phuttha Phrom Panyo, a forest monastery located in Ban Nong Chok, Kaeng Sian subdistrict, Mueang district.

 

Upon arrival, the suspects were seen unloading several individuals and guiding them into the monastery’s Dhamma practice pavilion. Police quickly moved in and detained all 33 undocumented migrants, along with two handlers and seized the two vehicles used in the operation.

 

Investigations revealed that the temple was being used as a temporary safehouse by a migrant smuggling network. Once the migrants had entered Thailand via natural border crossings, vehicles would transport them to the monastery where they would remain hidden before being moved to other provinces.

 

Authorities arrested two monks: Phra Rattanaporn, 44, who was found to be an unregistered person without any official identity documents and Phra Noppadon, 50, the monastery’s abbot and a Kanchanaburi local. Both were defrocked before being taken into custody.

 

The suspects and illegal migrants were handed over to Mueang Kanchanaburi Police Station for further legal proceedings.

 

Officials stated that the investigation is ongoing and further arrests are expected as authorities work to dismantle the broader human trafficking network operating in the region.

 

 

  Adapted by Asean Now from Khoasod 2025-06-20