Thai leader of corpse worship sect seized in forest hideaway

THE founder of a corpse-worshipping cult has been arrested in a Thai forest after police found 11 bodies.

The self-proclaimed holy man whose followers allegedly consume bodily fluids as a sickness cure was arrested in his hideaway in the country’s north-east.

Supporters of Thawee Nanra, 75, screamed and tried to prevent police from bundling the wild-haired sect leader into a car at his compound deep in a jungle in Chaiyaphum province.

The police said they found corpses on the premises which, according to local media, were the bodies of his followers.

When questioned, the cult leader reportedly said: “Those bodies were waiting to go to heaven.” The Bangkok Post reported that death certificates were only available for five of them.

Devotees also reportedly told authorities that the leader’s urine, excrement, dandruff and phlegm were believed to be cures for diseases.

The group lived in a remote, secret location in the jungle for four years until the concerned daughter of one of Nanra’s followers raised the alarm.

The whistleblower contacted Jeeraphan Phetkhao, a social media personality known for exposing unscrupulous religious figures, including monks accused of sexual misconduct.

According to the Thaiger website, the 53-year-old woman told him that her 80-year-old mother lived with the sect for a year and “acted weirdly” as if she was being “brainwashed”.

She later told the media she had been shocked to learn her mother was washing her face with the “leader’s saliva”.

Mr Thawee has initially been charged with encroaching on a forest area and gatherings banned under Covid control laws. He has been denied bail.