Bangkok: Four monks including an abbot at a Buddhist temple in central Thailand, tested positive for methamphetamine on Monday, leaving the temple without holy men.
The raid comes amid a national campaign to tackle drug trafficking.
The monks were reportedly removed from the temple after police administered urine tests on Monday, which saw all four men fail.
The monks have been sent to a health clinic to undergo drug rehabilitation, district official Boonlert Thintapthai told newswire AFP.
“The temple is now empty of monks and nearby villagers are concerned they cannot do any merit-making,” he said.
Merit-making involves worshippers donating food to monks as a good deed.
Boonlert said more monks will be sent to the temple to allow villagers to practise their religious obligations.
Thailand is a major transit country for methamphetamine flooding in from Myanmar’s troubled Shan state via Laos, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
On the street, pills sell for less than 20 baht (around $0.50).
Authorities across Southeast Asia have made record meth seizures in recent years.
(With Agency Inputs)
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