The Department of Medical Services has ordered the immediate closure of a drug rehabilitation centre at a Kanchanaburi temple following complaints of violent abuse and extortion of addicts there.
The drug rehab centre at Wat Tha Phu Rat Bamrung made headlines when a popular shaman and a lawyer took reporters there on Monday to expose the conditions, which they said included a starvation diet, torture, beatings and extortion of relatives.
There were more than 200 men crowded into a single room with only two bathrooms.
The abbot of the temple died 15 minutes before it was raided on Monday. Soldiers released the patients, who were taken to hospitals.
The two complainants alleged the rehab centre was run by a criminal network involving police and government officials.
