Authorities have arrested and charged a woman who seduced and blackmailed Buddhist monks for gambling money.
A 35-year-old Thai woman allegedly had sex with at least nine Buddhist monks. The encounters happened on separate occasions. It was part of an extortion scheme to fund her gambling habits.
According to the Thai Royal Police, she spent an estimated $11.9 million million on online gambling. The suspect, Wilan Emsawat, targeted senior Buddhist monks. She expected they would pay for her silence.
Emsawat approached her victims, simulating a genuine romantic interest, as well as would swiftly move to seduce them. Buddhist monks swear celibacy. The woman convinced her victims to engage in sexual acts with her. She also recorded the encounters on her smartphone.
Later, she revealed to her former lovers that she had recorded everything. She then threatened to release the footage unless they paid for her silence. Most of the monks appeared to be high-ranking Buddhists, at least nine have agreed to do so.
More are suspected of having been approached by the woman, as well as having engaged in sexual intercourse with her. The suspect herself is also facing money laundering chargers and receiving stolen goods.
Her downfall wasn’t entirely of her own doing. The Buddhist monks she targeted were reluctant to seek help from law enforcement. Sooner, one monk refused to pay as well as quit the Wat Tri Thotsathep Worawihan temple in Bangkok without notice. Phra Thep Wachirapamok, the monk in question, supposedly fled to Laos. However, police discovered numerous phones connected to the monk.
They were able to extract information that made police aware of the ongoing extortionist scheme from them. Yet even more bizarrely, the Thai government is debating whether it should introduce a law that criminalizes women having sex with monks.
