Bangkok: Thai police filed two new arrest warrants against an influential former abbot of Thailand's biggest Buddhist temple yesterday after a week-long standoff there between security forces and monks.
Phra Dhammachayo, the former abbot of Dhammakaya Temple, is accused by police of money laundering.
The new arrest warrants are for encroaching on national park land in Phang Nga Province, southern Thailand, police spokesman Kissana Phatanacharoen said.
They bring to 13 the total number of arrest warrants.
Temple supporters say all the charges are politically motivated.
The situation escalated a week ago when the military government invoked a special emergency law to let authorities search the temple after months of failing to get it to hand over Phra Dhammachayo.
