‘Tomatoes’ strike back
Life was not kind to the former Phra Buddha Isara when police arrested him during a pre-dawn raid at Wat Or Noi in Nakhon Pathom last Thursday.
After a video clip showing armed Crime Suppression Division police storming the former monk’s living quarters went viral, a number of people questioned why the bust was conducted in such a “heavy-handed” manner.
The police team sent in to arrest him comprised numerous officers, sniffer dogs, and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel, according to a source.
The same source said the raid was so heavy handed that three Special Branch policemen providing protection for the former monk were also overpowered, the source said.
Public criticism was so strong that after the incident, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha was forced to apologise for the perceived excessive use of force.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the prime minister reprimanded officials and told them to amend their tactics.
The former monk, who was born Suwit Thongprasert, was charged with running an illegal secret society. The charge stems from an incident in which his guards beat up two plainclothes policemen, took their valuables and detained them for questioning during the “Bangkok Shutdown”, demonstrations in Bangkok in 2014, led by the then People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC).
The demonstration in which the former monk was involved as one of the core leaders sought to oust the Pheu Thai Party-led administration and succeeded.
The former monk also faces a charge of forgery for using the royal initials of the late King Rama IX and Her Majesty the Queen of the late King without permission when he cast a batch of amulets in 2011.
After his arrest, the monk was defrocked and is now in the Bangkok Remand Prison.
He told supporters who recently visited him at the prison that he would not seek bail until “satisfactory progress” has been made in dealing with those involved in the highprofile temple fund embezzlement scandal.
Mr Suwit told his supporters that he held no grudges over the way he was arrested. The matter, he said, should be laid to rest to prevent anyone politicising it.
Suthep Thaugsuban, the former PDRC leader, who is known to have close ties with the monk, sent his lawyer to help the former monk fight his case in court, the source said.
The source said that the police’s alleged use of brute force against the former monk might have been an act of revenge by some “tomato” police who wanted to pay him back for the rough handling his security guards meted out to police during the 2014 protests.
The term “tomato police” has been used to describe officers who support the red-shirt movement either overtly or covertly.
The former activist monk still commands the respect of some soldiers and has a large following supporting him.
He was known for his politically controversial activism including his support for the PDRC-led protest in 2014, and his campaigns to “cleanse the clergy”.
His sympathy for the regime was also obvious when he told supporters visiting him in prison to relay his moral support to the government and the National Council for Peace and Order in working for the sake of the country.