Police arrested a young Bhuddist novice monk who had sex with a 13-year-old girl and an abbot who helped him set up the tryst in Sukhothai's Thung Saliam district.
Pol Col Somchai Chumni, superintendent of Thung Saliam police station, said the girl's mother, whose name was withheld, told police on Tuesday that her daughter, known as Dao, went missing around 6.30pm and did not return home until the following morning.
She said her daughter told her that an abbot, identified as Phra Loy Imkhunthong, 44, and his 14-year-old novice picked her up in a pickup truck and took her to Phra Loy's room. The novice then had sex with her while the abbot acted as lookout. The two monks drove her home in the morning.
The novice monk admitted to police that he had sex with the teenager he met through Facebook, while Phra Loy confessed he helped the novice, Pol Col Somchai said on Thursday.
Police said both were discharged from the monkhood and were charged with conspiring to separate a person below the age of 15 from her parents for sexual purposes, and taken into custody for further proceedings.