12 bodies exhumed from site of controversial temple in Thailand after police raid

BANGKOK – Forensic science officials on Nov 20 exhumed 12 bodies from the ground of a controversial monastic centre in Chanu Woralak Buri district of Thailand’s Kamphaeng Phet province.

Officials from the Office of Police Forensic Science dug in 17 spots, which appeared to be burial sites, and found bodies at 12.

Four of the exhumed bodies were decomposed, while the rest were only bones.

One of the exhumed bodies was donated to the temple for “dharma practice” just 55 days ago, relatives testified to police.

The exhumation was carried out after police, public health officials and officials from the Kamphaeng Phet Buddhism Office as well as the district chief gathered to inspect the unnamed monastic centre on Nov 19.

The raid was carried out after a well-known Facebook page for Kamphaeng Phet communities alerted that the temple used corpses in weird teachings to children. The page showed a video clip in which children could guess numbers correctly in front of a group of followers of the temple.

When district chief Wat Chai-apirak led officials to check the temple, the abbot claimed the clip was an old one taken about five months ago.

The latter claimed that the clip was taken by a group of dharma learners who came to use the temple for their practice. The abbot said the temple did not teach children how to have magic eyes and ears as the Facebook page alleged.

But he said the temple did use the bodies to have dharma learners review them to understand the truth of life.

Search for bodies continued until 6pm on Nov 20.

The bodies were transferred to Wat Kuha Sawan in Tambon Bo Tham of Chanu Woralak Buri district for relatives to claim them.

Police said they would compare the DNA of the corpses and the relatives before returning the bodies for religious rites.

Police added that they would demand evidence from temple officials on whether the bodies had been legally transferred. If this was not so, they would face charges of stealing and concealing dead bodies. THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK