Police have arrested a monk and two other men for allegedly stealing corpses from Udon Thani cemeteries for use in black magic rituals to help believers pick winning lottery numbers.
Udon Thani provincial police said Phra Eun Aphiyo, 65, Woraphong Senaphon, 20, and Khunthong Khetnu, 32, were apprehended on Friday for stealing a total of four bodies from one graveyard in Khumphawapi district and one in Prachak Silpakhom district.
The arrest followed a complaint filed by Anong Hipkaew of Non Sa village in Prachak Silpakhom district that the body of her son and a body buried next to her son had been dug up.
Ms Anong said she and her relatives travelled to the graveyard over Songkran to clean up her son's burial site.
They were shocked to find the graves desecrated and the corpse of her son missing, along with the head of a corpse from the adjacent plot.
Police said officers found and seized an elephant goad, a tool used to handle and train elephants, which had Khmer letters on it and a hammer after they searched Phra Eun’s living quarters in Wat Pha Thamma Chroen temple in Udon Thani’s Khumphawapi district.
Police said Phra Eun denied the allegations of body snatching but admitted he held a ceremony in the graveyard to give hints to locals on lottery numbers.
Mr Woraphong and Mr Khunthong, both residents of Udon Thani, allegedly confessed to digging up the corpses but denied stealing them, police said.
The suspects were charged with robbery, police said.
Phra Eun was disrobed, police said.