Ban na thong: A young man, high on drugs, ambushed and attacked a monk with an iron pipe while he was collecting alms. The attacker struck the monk in the shoulder, causing injury. The monk escaped by riding his motorbike to seek help from an assistant village headman, narrowly avoiding further harm.
According to Thai News Agency, CCTV footage from in front of the assistant village headman's house in Ban Na Thong, Moo 5, Na Yung Subdistrict, captured Luang Pho Thongbang Kantathammo, 73, the abbot of Wat Pa Na Thong, fleeing for his life by riding a motorized tricycle to seek help from the assistant village headman. Upon arriving at the house, he honked his horn several times and shouted for help, saying that a man named Pao was going to kill him and had beaten him with an iron bar while he was leaving the temple to collect alms. The footage then shows Pao following the abbot with a stick to the assistant village headman's house, prompting the assistant headman to rush out to help the abbot. Pao then fled.
Reporters went to the area and spoke with the assistant village headman. They found the motorized tricycle, which the monk uses daily for alms collection, parked there. The assistant revealed that the monk recounted that on the morning of May 29th, while riding his tricycle out of the temple for alms collection, Mr. Pao ambushed him from behind a house pillar. Mr. Pao then ran up and struck him on the head with an iron pipe. Fortunately, the roof of the tricycle absorbed some of the impact.
The metal object grazed his right shoulder, causing a bone fracture. After the incident, the monk quickly fled on his motorcycle to seek help, but the assailant chased after him with a stick, attempting to attack him again. Later, villagers helped apprehend Mr. Pao near the entrance of Wat Pa Na Tong temple. The assailant appeared intoxicated and heavily hallucinating from drugs. The motive is believed to be Mr. Pao's anger towards the monk for reprimanding him for setting fire to something in the temple. It was learned that Mr. Pao was using drugs and marijuana, causing him to hallucinate. He had been discharged from the military two years ago and had been living at home and then at the temple. The monk had been kind enough to give him food, and no one expected him to be so ungrateful.
At Wat Pa Na Tong, it was found that the abbot was not at the temple, having gone to stay with relatives in another sub-district. The abbot is still experiencing pain in his right arm; the doctor said the bone is broken and requires surgery. The cause is believed to be that Mr. Pao started a fire to burn wood near the abbot's dwelling, and when the abbot reprimanded him, it likely angered Mr. Pao.
Nayung Police Station revealed that after arresting Mr. Pao, he remained delirious, speaking incoherently and claiming to be a hermit, a result of heavy drug use. Following the incident, the abbot filed a police report. They are currently awaiting medical examination results before gathering evidence to prosecute Mr. Pao on charges of attempted murder.