Buddhist monk is defrocked after he was ‘caught having sex on camera by locals who were

A Buddhist monk has been defrocked after he was caught on camera allegedly having sex with a religious follower. 

The man is accused of seducing the middle-aged woman by reading scriptures to her at the temple in Nakhon Si Thammarat, southern Thailand. 

He was rumbled by locals who had covertly set up CCTV cameras after they got sick of him regularly having sex with women. 

Footage allegedly shows the monk approaching the woman from behind, unaware that there is a surveillance camera inches away, as she removes her clothes and leans over a chair. 

They quickly stopped when they realised someone was approaching during the tryst on October 20.

The woman casually pulls up her trousers as though nothing happened.

But the pair were caught in the act on camera and furious locals complained to Buddhist chiefs, who kicked the monk out of the religion.

One devotee, Kittisak, said: ‘The monks have a comfortable life that is funded by our donations. 

‘They are supported so they can live virtuous lives and be an inspiration to others.

‘But instead he was breaking the most important rule that Buddhist monks must follow.’

Villagers claimed the monk had repeatedly engaged in outdoor sexual encounters but his behaviour remained an open secret, as he reportedly threatened people who discovered his alleged activities.

But residents eventually managed to capture his conduct on camera.

Separate photographs also emerged allegedly showing the monk groping the woman’s breasts.

Locals said the monk had moved into the grounds of the Wat Wihan Ngam temple under the pretext of restoring it.

District chief Kittipong Rongdech and local Buddhism officials tracked down the randy monk to defrock him from the monkhood. 

He reportedly admitted his identity when confronted with the footage.

The monk was taken to the ecclesiastical governing authority in Chian Yai district, where he was stripped of his robes and changed into civilian clothes.

A senior monk said the man’s actions constituted a ‘Parajika’ offence – one of the most serious violations of Buddhist monastic code – resulting in the immediate forfeiture of his monkhood.

He said that ‘even penetration by a finger’s breadth’ would make a person permanently ineligible for ordination for the rest of their life.

The scandal has also provoked calls for an investigation into donations made to the temple.

Devotees have also called for a ‘new abbot with exemplary conduct’ to replace the erring monk.

Buddhism is the dominant religion in Thailand, with 90 per cent of the population identifying as Theravada Buddhists.

Monks take a vow of celibacy to detach themselves from worldly desires, which are seen as obstacles to spiritual enlightenment. 

They are banned from being alone with women.

However, the Thai clergy have faced numerous sex scandals over the years, eroding public trust in the religious establishment.

In September, the Buddhist clergy became engulfed in yet another scandal after a senior monk in a separate case was also 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.

In 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.

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.

A 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 Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The organisation alerted Thai authorities that a Gmail user in the country was storing illegal images and videos.

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’.

In 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.

Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested in April at the main international airport in Sri Lanka with a record 242lb 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.

‘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 business leader.

In March, provincial officials raided a monk’s hut at a temple in northeastern Thailand and discovered drugs and several firearms.

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.