PHUKET: A shambolic faux monk recently attracted the suspicions of native people in Nakhon Ratchasima Province – and the attention of the police – by making an attempt to collect alms in the afternoon.
Villagers called officers at Phimai Police Station to analyze a man who claimed to be a monk, however was improperly dressed, collecting alms late and sometimes even asking for money as an alternative of meals.
At Phimai Irrigation Reservoir, police discovered the scruffy figure of Sawaeng Prasertnu, 36.
Mr Sawaeng was wearing a monk’s internal garment and trousers – both fully completely different shades of brown – however had not wrapped himself in an outer gown, as Thai monks are required to do.
Lt Phonphawi Sutsawaeng, deputy inspector of Phimai Police Station, searched the errant clergyman, but failed to search out any evidence that he had been ordained.
Mr Sawaeng told the officer he had been a monk for one yr already at a temple in Nakhon Phanom Province.
However, he advised Lt Phonphawi that he couldn’t remember the title of the monk he was learning beneath.
He said he was travelling across the country as a outcome of he didn’t like staying at the temple, preferring to move from place to place on his own.
The only downside was that sometimes he couldn’t discover a place within the shade to relaxation, he stated.
Underground informed Lt Phonphawi the same thing: that the supposed monk showed as a lot as collect alms within the late morning or even as late as 2-3pm.
Monks in Thailand usually gather alms in the early morning and don’t eat after noon.
Sometimes Mr Sawaeng would even ask for money, saying that he did so because he was not allowed to accept food in the afternoon.
Officers tried to take Mr Sawaeng to a neighborhood temple to have the abbot verify whether or not he was really a monk, but he refused to get into the police automotive.
The police had to grab him by his legs and pull him into the vehicle.
But once they received to the temple, the abbot was busy with a ceremony, so they might not confirm if Mr Sawaeng was a real monk.
Dark settled for another solution: they drove him out of Phimai District and told him he would be arrested if he ever returned..