Police are seeking to cut off power and water supplies to Wat Phra Dhammakaya, whose former abbot Phra Dhammajayo is wanted on several charges, in their latest move to ratchet up pressure on the temple where the monk is believed to be holed up.
A police source said that deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul met Sermsakul Klaikaew yesterday, the director of the Provincial Electricity Authority, to ask the agency to switch off power supplies to the temple.
Police were also moving to have the temple's water supplies cut off, the source said.
The move comes in the wake of court approval for a police request yesterday for a warrant to search the temple after the Royal Thai Police's Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division brought a fresh charge against temple personnel for digging artesian wells illegally.
Police also found that some buildings in the temple compound are alleged to have been constructed illegally in violation of the Building Act, the Factory Act, the Public Health Act, and the environment law, the source said.
Armed with a search warrant, Pol Col Warin Thongtra, deputy chief of Pathum Thani police, led police officers and officials from the Department of Groundwater Resources yesterday to inspect the artesian water system on Wat Phra Dhammakaya's premises.
After five minutes of negotiations, temple staff agreed to let authorities enter the compound at Gate No 8, but authorities' vehicles were not allowed in. The inspection lasted less than an hour before officials left the premises.
The source said police are pursuing 43 lawsuits against the temple and people affiliated with the temple.
The cases include building public bridges to control access to the temple, using containers to block public routes, driving passenger vans and buses on unauthorised routes, unauthorised construction of seven condominiums in the temple's compound, and the digging of artesian wells.
On Monday, the Criminal Court approved four search warrants sought by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) valid for Dec 13-16, one for each day.
The DSI was supposed to begin the first search on Tuesday, as permitted under the first search warrant, of the 196-rai area of the temple. However, the search did not proceed and the final search warrant will expire today.
The Criminal Court approved a police request yesterday for a warrant to arrest Ong-art Thamnitha, a Wat Phra Dhammakaya spokesman on a charge of inciting public unrest in violation of Section 116 of the Criminal Code.
Pol Maj Woranan Silam, deputy spokesman of the DSI, previously lodged a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division's Sub-Division 2 accusing Mr Ong-art of violating the law by declaring a nine-point stance on Sunday which claimed to be on behalf of all followers of the temple.
A prayer sit-in continued to block access to Wat Phra Dhammakaya, with 1,000 monks but fewer followers, as more police and soldiers closed in on the temple in Pathum Thani province yesterday.
Temple staff continued to block reporters and non-followers from entering the compound in Klong Luang district. Access through strictly guarded temple gates was restricted, and only people with pass cards were allowed in. More DSI officials, soldiers and police arrived near the temple and set up checkpoints to search vehicles taking people inside.
The sit-in began at Wat Phra Dhammakaya on Tuesday when security officials were expected to search the temple to arrest Phra Dhammajayo, 72.
The former abbot is wanted on charges of money-laundering and receiving stolen property in connection with the multi-billion-baht Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative embezzlement scandal.
He is also the subject of arrest warrants issued by the Sikhiu and Loei provincial courts in connection with alleged forest encroachment by the temple's meditation facilities in Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima province and in Loei province.
Meanwhile, the International Buddhist Sangha in Thailand sent a letter to Laurent Meillan, an officer in charge of the Bangkok-based UN Human Rights Office for South East Asia, to ask for protection of the rights of Buddhist monks and devotees in Thailand. There have been news reports of a plan to use force to break into Wat Phra Dhammakaya, the letter said.
"We have been observing news reports in Thailand with grave concern. There have been many cases of human rights violations and suppression of freedom of expression against Buddhist communities. These actions were conspired by Thai authorities and the media," the letter added.
