BANGKOK – US authorities have apprehended former jet-setting monk Luang Pu Nenkham, who now goes by his layman’s name Wiraphon Sukphon, Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang said yesterday.
The DSI was informed by US officials yesterday morning about Wiraphon’s arrest as per Thailand’s request.
So, it and related agencies would proceed on getting him extradited to face charges here, Paisit said. The DSI had filed six charges against Wiraphon including a violation of the Computer Crimes Act (an assertion of false information on a computer), public fraud, money |laundering, statutory rape of a girl under 15 and taking a minor from her parents.
Paisit explained that the extradition would have to wait for an American court judge to inform Wiraphon of the charges and give him a chance to appeal to fight those charges first. Thus, it would take a while before he could be extradited to face charges in Thailand.
DSI deputy chief Pol Lt Colonel Pong-in Intarakhao affirmed that all hinged on the US court’s discretion – whether to extradite him – but there was a high chance Wiraphon would be sent back to Thailand.
Luang Pu Nenkham is a controversial monk today. But years ago, thousands of people held complete faith in him very likely because of his well-crafted marketing.
It began many years ago when someone in his close circle reportedly noticed people wondering why he looked much older in a photo than his true age, then decided to spread a story that he was born to liberate Buddhists from the chain of suffering.
During his golden year, he even had a website dedicated solely to him.
The monk first caught attention of authorities in 2013 after footage emerged of him travelling aboard a private jet, carrying a Louis Vuitton bag and wearing brand-name sunglasses. But as allegations against him emerged, he fled to France and then the US.
