BANGLAMUNG, Chonburi: Banglamung police arrested a junior monk and a temple boy at a well-known Pattaya area temple late Saturday after an undercover officer disguised as a monk bought ketamine in a sting operation.
Pol. Col. Sarawut Nuchnart, superintendent of Banglamung Police Station, assigned Pol. Lt. Col. Yongyuth Wanhuea, deputy superintendent of investigation, Pol. Lt. Col. Wuttipong Kasa, investigation inspector, and a team of investigators to follow up on public complaints that a monk at Wat Photisamphan on Nakluea Road, in tbe Na Kluea subdistrict, was secretly selling drugs.
Investigators identified a junior monk known as “Luang Phi Moss” as involved in selling Category 2 psychotropic substances, specifically ketamine, to customers. Officers planned a buy-bust and sent an informant posing as a monk to make the approach appear natural. Contact was made through Instagram.
The informant used an Instagram account to message an account named “Veerapat Moss.” They agreed on a ketamine purchase for 300 baht. After the informant transferred the money, Luang Phi Moss arranged for the buyer to collect the drugs at a kuti, or monks’ living quarters, beside a pavilion inside the temple.
Officers surrounded the area. Once the informant received the drugs and signaled, police moved in and arrested the man later identified as Weerapat “Moss” Sawatsing, along with Theeraphong “Thee” Sornjanwong, a temple boy.
A search turned up one plastic bag containing about 0.87 grams of ketamine flakes and another bag with about 0.64 grams of cloudy white ketamine flakes, plus the 300 baht used in the sting, which had been transferred from the informant’s account.
Residents had reported unusual activity at the temple, saying a monk was selling drugs and that a temple boy helped deliver them to customers. Police built the case and carried out the buy before making the arrests.
The suspects and evidence were handed over to investigators at Pattaya City Police Station for further legal action.
