According to AP News, the woman, 35-year-old Wilawan Emsawat — known by the nickname Sika Kor, or "Ms. Golf" — had engaged in sexual relations with the monks, then extorted them by threatening to release photos and videos of the acts.

At least nine abbots and senior monks involved in the scandal have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, police said.

Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith.The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood,