Dhammakaya temple: Day 2 search continues without success (Updated)
PATHUM THANI โ€“ The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and police resumed their search for embattled Phra Dhammajayo at Wat Phra Dhammakaya on Friday, and again came up empty-handed.
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Friday afternoon update
Day 2 search continues without success
Dumrongkiat Mala
PATHUM THANI – The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and police resumed their search for embattled Phra Dhammajayo at Wat Phra Dhammakaya on Friday, and again came up empty-handed.
Officials returned to the temple in 16 teams with sniffer dogs for the second day of their second search on Friday, in their long-running effort to arrest the 72-year-old former abbot.
One of the buildings targeted by investigators. APICHIT JINAKUL
The search on Friday covered eight locations in the compound encompassing 2,000 rai of land at the temple in Khlong Luang district in Pathum Thani and the focus this time was on the Master Nun Chandra Centennial Building, where temple critics, including former monk Mano Laohavanich, have claimed Phra Dhammajayo could be hiding.
They spent two hours combing the building from exhibition halls to toilets, and found only about 100 disciples of the monk praying there.
In other areas, they found a two-kilometre-long tunnel under a pagoda-shaped Pawana building. The tunnel has its entrance in the middle, with dead ends on both one-kilometre wings.
DSI officers initially met some resistance from monks at Wat Phra Dhammakaya during Thursday's raid to arrest the temple's founder and former 'abbot' Phra Dhammajayo. He is wanted in connection with the multi-billion-baht Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative embezzlement scandal.
Morning story
Raid opener fails to net elusive monk
Damrongkiat Mala
Wassana Nanuam
Officials left Wat Phra Dhammakaya empty-handed Thursday as they failed to find its former abbot Phra Dhammajayo after a 14-hour operation facilitated by special powers under Section 44 of the interim constitution.
They plan another raid Friday as the court has given them authority to search the temple for several days.
The fourth attempted operation, which is the first time officials were able to enter the temple, began at 2 o'clock Thursday morning when the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) deployed 20 teams of officials to search the temple, with the support of more than 3,600 police officers from Provincial Police Region 1, Police Region 7, and the Metropolitan Police Bureau, along with 900 soldiers.
The soldiers' primary task was to maintain peace and order outside the temple and prevent people from carrying weapons into the temple while the authority to search the temple rested solely with the DSI and police.
Just before dawn, soldiers and police surrounded the temple compound, preventing any disciples from entering.
The DSI tried to negotiate with the temple's representatives to enter the temple until the afternoon, after which officials broke Gate 1 to enter the grounds and began their search for the temple's fugitive founder, Phra Dhammajayo.
After three hours of searching, officials turned back at 3.30pm empty-handed.
Pol Maj Woranan Silam, DSI deputy spokesman, told a press briefing after the operation ended that the operation involved a combined force of 4,240 officials from the DSI, the police and the army. Some 19 spots in three areas and in the temple – Zones A, B and C – were targeted in the search.
Officials began the search in Zone A which covers 196 rai and is where Phra Dhammajayo is believed to have stayed. However, they did not find the monk during their search.
The search of Zones B and C where the temple's various foundations and other buildings are located, was scheduled to begin at 8am Friday, Pol Maj Woranan said.
Only about 15-20% of the temple grounds were searched and officials must complete the search of all the remaining 80% of the temple's compound, he said. Pol Maj Woranan said there is no specific time frame for the latest search warrant approved by the court.
Deputy police spokesman Pol Col Krissana Pattanacharoen said that officials also searched the Daowadung Building where the temple's representatives had said Phra Dhammajayo lived but failed again to find the abbot. He declined to say whether officials found evidence that Phra Dhammajayo was living there, saying only that the location was thoroughly searched.
Pol Col Krissana said although the search team could not find Phra Dhammajayo, this did not mean the former abbot was not staying in the temple. The search will continue until it covers the entirety of the temple's compound, he said.
The DSI and police attempted to search the temple in three previous raids, but failed. The first raid took place on June 16, last year, the second from Dec 13-16 and the third on Dec 27.
The search aims to arrest the temple's former abbot, Phra Dhammajayo, who is wanted on several arrest warrants for allegedly laundering money and receiving stolen assets in connection with the multi-billion-baht embezzlement of the Klongchan Credit Union Co-operative.
His temple's meditation centres also allegedly encroach on forest reserves in Loei, Nakhon Ratchasima and Phangnga provinces. He has refused to meet with officials for questioning and acknowledge charges claiming he is too ill.
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