Chief of feces-eating cult arrested after 11 dead our bodies found during raid

Thai police raided the compound of a suspected cult leader in Chaiyaphum province on Sunday, discovering a minimum of 11 bodies during the search. Local authorities were in a position to raid the compound after the group allegedly violated land encroachment legal guidelines and broke Covid-19 restriction laws.

Law enforcement had already been made aware of the group after allegations had been shared that the group had been consuming the bodily fluids of its leader. After police made their approach onto the camp grounds, police then discovered the remains of 11 our bodies in coffins.

Nevertheless, the group was solely capable of provide dying certificates belonging to 5 of the 11 of the deceased. Police have ordered autopsies to be carried out to determine the causes of death of the bodies.

The suspected chief of the group has been detained for questioning, however earlier than the arrest lots of his followers tried to stop police from arresting the elderly man in the course of the raid. 

The strange group was known in the area to conduct themselves in a religious-like manner, the place devotees of the “father,” Thawee Nanra, 75, would do nearly anything for the man. Some say he would pressure his followers to drink his urine, eat his feces, and devour filth with the intention to heal bodily diseases.

Cult-like groups will not be unusual in Thailand. In 2019, a ‘rape cult’ on Koh Phangan was revelaed the place female students say they had been promised religious practice only to be coerced into sex or raped by its founder. Last 12 months, an elderly monk decapitated himself with a selfmade device in an attempt to reincarnate as the next being. His followers helped him construct the contraption and helped him commit suicide. More extensively recognized is the Dhammakaya group, a massively rich Buddhist sect that critics and former followers call a cult.

The incident has quickly gone viral on social media, with netizens sharing their disgust against the cult’s practices of consuming human waste. The Thai-language hashtag #พระบิดา (#Father) saw over 141,000 mentions as of Monday’s afternoon.

A snippet from television reveals a girl, who seems to be a member of the cult, saying that she didn't detect any disagreeable odor whereas consuming the human waste.  

“There isn’t even an odor,” the lady remarked. “Solely these with a tainted mind could scent it.”

"ไม่มีกลิ่นหรอกค่ะ มีแต่คนจิตไม่ดีเท่านั้นเเหละค่ะที่จะได้กลิ่น"
กูหลุดขำกับคำพูดนี้มาก ยายแกคิดได้ไง5555555555555555#พระบิดา pic.twitter.com/rNOaZJBLxq

One twitter user identified that the one who uncovered this cult was Mor Pla, a star volunteer who has helped uncover suspicious religious circumstances, rather than native authorities. 

“It was speculated to be the police that raided this cult in the first place, isn’t it?,” one Twitter consumer questioned.

ที่งงคือทำไมถึงต้องเป็นหมอปลาที่เป็นคนประสานหรือนำสังคมไปเจอเรื่องอะไรแบบนี้ ทั้งที่คนที่ควรจะเป็นบุกไปจับ ไปเจอ หรือเปิดเผยมันควรเป็น ตร. หรือ จนท. ของรัฐ ไม่ใช่หรอ ทำไมถึงปล่อยให้มีเรื่องขนาดนี้เกิดขึ้น สุดจริงบ้านนี้เมืองนี้ #พระบิดา

Several tweets describe what happened as a failure of Thailand’s training system, notably in the space of hygiene. “I can’t bear the thought of more than half of the country being like this,” one other Twitter person wrote.
Thai Enquirer attempted to reach native police in Chaiyaphum for remark, but they didn't respond by the time of publishing.

Authorities are nonetheless looking out the group’s compound for different suspicious materials. This is an ongoing story and we could have extra particulars within the coming days.