Nine people, including seven Buddhist monks, have been arrested by the Thai authorities for allegedly embezzling about 300 million baht (S$11.8 million) in donations to a temple in Thailand’s north-east.

Thailand’s Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases said the actions of the ringleaders “gravely undermined Buddhism”.

The first arrests took place last Friday when police detained a monk, Kom Kongkaew, his sister and Wat Pa Thammakhiri’s abbot.

Kom and the abbot, Wutthima Thaomor, were suspected of stealing more than 180 million baht of the temple’s money. The temple is located in Nakhon Ratchasima province.

Police said Kom and the abbot withdrew money from the temple’s account and gave it to Kom’s sister to be deposited into her own account.

Police said the sister had 130 million baht in her account, while 51 million baht in cash was found in her house.

According to the police, the abbot said Kom advised the monks to use some of the stolen funds to purchase jewellery.

After Kom was arrested, he allegedly told six others to hide the valuables.

But a raid conducted by the police at the temple on Tuesday morning uncovered the assets worth 100 million baht, which included cash and jewellery, some of which were buried underground and in the monks’ private quarters.

During the raid, five monks and a driver were also arrested.

The Nation reported that Kom was popular for his “rhetorical style of preaching”, which attracted many devotees.

According to local villagers, the temple drew a lot of well-to-do devotees, who usually arrived in luxury cars.

All the suspects are currently held without bail as the court deemed them to be flight risks who might tamper with evidence.