The Buddhist priests getting up to monky business: How scandals have repeatedly blighted Thai monks from temple sex tape and penis pump stash to drug smuggling and child porn

The Buddhist clergy was engulfed in yet another scandal last week after a senior monk was caught having sex with a woman on CCTV in Thailand.Phra Wachirayan Wi, the 66-year-old abbot of the 14th-century temple Wat Phutthaisawan in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, was also accused of embezzling £2million intended for his monastery.The case is the latest controversy to hit the clergy in the Buddhist-majority nation, after a sex and extortion case involving senior monks last year prompted public outrage and calls for greater scrutiny of temple finances. Footage showing Phra Wachirayan having sex on a table in his residence was widely broadcast on mainstream Thai media, sending shockwaves through the country.In Thailand, Buddhist monks take a vow of celibacy and also renounce material possessions.But that hasn't stopped the spiritual figures from repeatedly being at the centre of a litany of sex and drug scandals over the years – from being caught by the police with a stash of porn, sex toys and a penis pump, to becoming the targets of a £9million sextortion scheme.The clergymen have also perpetrated a series of sex crimes against children, including the rape of a teenage girl and possessing child pornography, prompting a wave of growing condemnation for the religious establishment. Video grab from leaked CCTV shows senior Buddhist monk Phra Wachirayan having sex with a woman Phra Wachirayan Wi (pictured) has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling £2million for his monastery, alongside a suspected female accomplice he was caught having sex withA £9million sextortion plotIn July 2025, a Thai woman was arrested for allegedly recording herself having sex with Buddhist monks and then extorting them for millions of pounds.Wilawan Emsawat, 35, known as Sika Golf, was accused of blackmailing some of the country’s most senior monks by threatening to publicise photos and videos of them having sex with her.Police claimed she received close to £9million after officers uncovered a cache of some 80,000 photos and videos allegedly used in the blackmail plot.But prior to her arrest at her luxury flat in the city of Nonthaburi, just outside Bangkok, Emsawat gave an astonishing interview to a leading Thai news programme.In the conversation, she detailed all her sexual relations with several senior monks, insisting that it was all consensual and that they voluntarily gave her money. She revealed that her first relationship with a religious figure was with the Chief Monk of Phichit Province in 2015, which is located in the north of the country where she was born and raised. Wilawan Emsawat, 35, known as Sika Golf, was accused last year of blackmailing some of the country's most senior monks by threatening to publicise photos and videos of them having sex with her One video shared by police shows a monk reclining on Emsawat's armHe contacted her out of the blue on LINE, Thailand’s equivalent of WhatsApp where they started chatting in a ‘romantic way,’ and became ‘like boyfriend and girlfriend.’Asked where they had sex, she replied that it was in a ‘kuti’, a traditional hut designed to house monks.The Chief Monk she was referring to was named as Phra Thep Watchara Sitthi Methi, who was a monk for 40 years but has since left the monkhood following the scandal. Emsawat revealed that the Chief Monk of Phichit once bought her a Mercedes Benz SLK 200 for almost £70,000, a £50,000 jeep and gave her money whenever she wanted it, often running into tens of thousands of pounds each month.Police claim that of the near £9million she is alleged to have extorted, all of it has gone, and Emsawat only had £180 in her bank account at the time of her arrest. They allege that she blew most of the money on her lavish lifestyle and online gambling.She is facing charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods but denies any wrongdoing.'Caught with porn, a penis pump, and an escort list'Earlier this year, four Buddhist monks were arrested when a stash of porn, sex toys, a penis pump and an escort list was found during a police raid at their temple in Thailand.The religious leaders are said to have violated their monastic vows as they kept the banned items at the Phrom Sunthon Monastery in Chonburi province.Police raided the property on January 27, following reports that the monks possessed firearms and drugs.Dramatic footage of the raid shows officers combing through the bedrooms, where they found £2,070 in cash, a pistol, a penis enlargement pump, a contact list of prostitutes and a DVD player with a porn disc still loaded inside.Three monks also allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine. Dramatic footage of the raid showed officers combing through the bedrooms, where they found a penis enlargement pump The religious leaders are believed to have violated their monastic vows as they kept the banned items, including a porn DVD, at the Phrom Sunthon Monastery in Chonburi province During the police raid, cops also stumbled across £2,070 in cash Officers arrested Phra Supachai Jantawong, 35, Phra Wirat Mukdasanit, 45, and Phra Thanapol Maison, 59, and the temple abbot, Phra Photisang Taebmuan, who was found to be a Karen national unregistered in civil records.All four monks have since been defrocked and banned from the religion.Colonel Saksilp Kamnoedsin of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) of Chonburi said the raid was carried out after villagers complained of alleged drug and firearm use on temple grounds.He said: 'The three monks found to be using drugs will be sent to the police and relevant authorities for rehabilitation. 'The abbot will be handed over to the police for questioning and then deported to his country of origin.'Alleged drug user Supachai claimed he had been taking meth for around three years 'to manage body pain from diabetes and high blood pressure'.He said: 'It's for relieving nerve pain. When the pain is really bad, I take these kinds of pills. But I only use it for really severe pain.'Authorities said the three monks will be sent to drug rehabilitation, while the abbot was handed over to immigration officials for further investigation.The monk 'caught with child porn' on his phoneA Buddhist monk was arrested in Thailand over an alleged collection of child pornography on his phone in November last year.Chayut, 60, was said to have downloaded a substantial amount of explicit material featuring minors.Police stormed his home in Samut Prakan, on the outskirts of Bangkok, following a tip-off from the United States' National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.The organisation alerted Thai authorities that a Gmail user in the country was storing illegal images and videos.Police Lieutenant Colonel Sunthorn Thongphongniam of the Thai Metropolitan Police Bureau's Investigation Division collected the data from Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and raided the temple on November 22.Officers seized the monk's two smartphones and alleged that the devices contained child pornography.The police chief said: ‘The suspect admitted that he downloaded child pornography to gratify his sexual needs. We handed him over to the inquiry officer of Samut Prakan Police Station for further legal action.'Chayut was charged with 'possession of child pornography for the purpose of seeking sexual benefit for oneself or others', and 'possessing them for distribution or public display'. The monk who raped a 14-year-old girlIn 2018, a Thai court sentenced a disgraced former monk to 114 years in prison for charges including fraud, money laundering and computer crime.Wiraphon Sukphon became known as the 'jet set monk' after he appeared in a 2013 YouTube video on a private jet, wearing sunglasses and flaunting wads of cash and Louis Vuitton designer bags.He was defrocked and fled to the US following allegations that he raped a minor, and deceived donors who gave him money to build the world’s largest emerald Buddha image.He was eventually convicted after being extradited back to Thailand.Wiraphon was sentenced for using his position as head of the Wat Pakhantitham forest monastery in Si Sa Ket between February 2009 and June 2013 to attract donations. Wiraphon Sukphon became known as the 'jet set monk' after he was appeared in a 2013 YouTube video on private jet, wearing sunglasses and flaunting wads of cash and Louis Vuitton designer bags In 2018, a Thai court sentenced the disgraced former monk to 114 years in prison for charges including fraud, money laundering and computer crimeHe told donors he would build 'the world's largest Buddha statue' in jade and gold but used the money to buy 10 luxury cars and live extravagantly.The con-man, who claimed he was the reincarnation of a famous miracle-performing monk, was reported to have amassed £20million at the height of his wealth.When he was arrested, he owned luxury cars and multiple bank accounts valued at about £500,000. He was handed 114 years in jail but legal technicalities capped the 114-year sentence at 20 years.In October, he was handed a further 16 years in prison for raping a young teenage girl who he also impregnated. The Ratchada Criminal Court in Bangkok handed Wirapol two eight-year prison terms, one for abducting a minor under 15 and another for rape. Prosecutors said that Wirapol abducted the 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her from January 2000 to the middle of 2001, during which time she also became pregnant.The victim filed a lawsuit against Wirapol requesting £892,000 in child support.The 22 monks arrested after a record drug bustTwenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested in April at the main international airport in Sri Lanka with a record 242 pounds of powerful cannabis, officials claimed.The group, returning home after a four-day vacation in the Thai capital, had Kush - a potent strain of cannabis - stashed in their luggage, according to a Sri Lankan official. Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested in April at the main international airport in Sri Lanka with a record 242 pounds of powerful cannabis, officials claimed'Each carried about five kilos of the narcotic concealed within false walls in their luggage,' the spokesman said.The monks were mostly young students from temples across Sri Lanka and had been on a trip sponsored by a businessman.The case marked the largest single detection of Kush at the South Asian country's main international airport, according to officials.Monk defrocked after guns and drugs found in hutIn March, provincial officials raided a monk’s hut at a temple in northeastern Thailand and discovered drugs and several firearms.Officials from Maha Sarakham’s provincial administration raided the hut in Borabue district following complaints from residents.Locals had reported that a monk from another province had come to stay at the temple, and was allegedly gathering with other clergymen to take drugs and drink alcohol.They also alleged there may be firearms in the hut. In March, provincial officials raided a monk’s hut at a temple in northeastern Thailand and discovered drugs and several firearmsWhen inspected, the single-storey hut was found in a filthy state, with belongings scattered chaotically and large piles of rubbish.Inside, officials discovered Phra Suwan, 40, originally from Kanchanaburi province.A search also recovered two .22-calibre firearms, three BB guns and 41 rounds of ammunition, all of which were seized as evidence.During initial questioning, Phra admitted he had taken two methamphetamine tablets about five days earlier and had not used the drug since. A subsequent urine test conducted by officials confirmed the presence of narcotics in his system.The monk was escorted to the temple's abbot, who formally defrocked him, before he was handed over to investigators at Borabue Police Station in Maha Sarakham province for legal proceedings.