BANGKOK (AP) — A Buddhist monk famed for establishing a hospice in Thailand for people with HIV/AIDS was arrested on Tuesday over allegations of misusing donations for the project.
Luang Phor Alongkot, also known as Phra Ratcha Wisutthiprachanat, was arrested on suspicion of embezzlement, dereliction of duty and money laundering. A second person, Seksan Sapsubbsakul, who served as a fundraiser for the project, was also detained.
Alongkot, 65, was forced to disrobe when he was taken on Tuesday to the Bangkok headquarters of the police Crime Suppression Bureau, as required before monks can formally be charged.
He has denied any wrongdoing.
Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a deputy commissioner at the Central Investigation Bureau, said the investigation was continuing.
“Initially, the monk cooperated well with the police and was willing to be disrobed without force. He understood the difference between Buddhist discipline and the legal process,” Jaroonkiat told reporters. “I told him that he did things that benefit people and other things that were illegal and he had to bear the consequences.”
Alongkot resigned last week as abbot of the Wat Phra Bat Namphu temple, in the the central province of Lopburi, following weeks of speculation about the possible mismanagement of donations for the care of people living with HIV/AIDS.
While the hospice was considered a pioneering humanitarian project when it was established in 1992, it became less relevant after the development and distribution of retroviral drugs to treat HIV, and with greater public awareness of AIDS.
Alongkot, who had gradually expanded the facilities at the temple, responded by extending treatment to people suffering from other serious ailments. The temple also runs various charities providing funding for the education of underprivileged children.
File - Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova of Canada, right, and Luang Phor Alongkot, left, known as Phra Ratcha Wisutthiprachanat, founder of Phra Bat Nampu hospice for HIV/AIDS, pose in front of sacks, containing ashes of Aids victims who died at the hospice since 1992, in Lopburi province, central Thailand Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2005. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, File)
In this photo, released by Central Investigation Bureau Police, Luang Phor Alongkot known as Phra Ratcha Wisutthiprachanat, second right white shirt, talks to police at Central Investigation Bureau in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Central Investigation Bureau Police via AP)
NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Troops from several European countries continued to arrive in Greenland on Thursday in a show of support for Denmark as talks between representatives of Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. highlighted “fundamental disagreement” over the future of the Arctic island.
The disagreement came into starker focus Thursday, with the White House describing plans for more talks with officials from Denmark and Greenland as “technical talks on the acquisition agreement" for the U.S. to acquire Greenland.
That was a far cry from the way Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen described it as a working group that would discuss ways to work through differences between the nations.
“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he said Wednesday after the meeting.
Before the talks began Wednesday, Denmark announced it would increase its military presence in Greenland. Several European partners — including France, Germany, the U.K., Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands — started sending symbolic numbers of troops or promised to do so in the following days.
The troop movements were intended to portray unity among Europeans and send a signal to President Donald Trump that an American takeover of Greenland is not necessary as NATO together can safeguard the security of the Arctic region amid rising Russian and Chinese interest.
The European troops did little to dissuade Trump.
His White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that it had no impact on the U.S. president's decision-making or goal of acquiring Greenland.
“The president has made his priority quite clear, that he wants the United States to acquire Greenland. He thinks it’s in our best national security to do that,” she said.
Rasmussen, flanked by his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remained after they met at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rasmussen said it remains “clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland” but dialogue with the U.S. would continue at a high level over the following weeks.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday that "the first French military elements are already en route” and “others will follow,” as French authorities said about 15 soldiers from the mountain infantry unit were already in Nuuk for a military exercise.
Germany will deploy a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel to Greenland on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said.
On Thursday, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the intention was “to establish a more permanent military presence with a larger Danish contribution,” according to Danish broadcaster DR. He said soldiers from several NATO countries will be in Greenland on a rotation system.
Inhabitants of Greenland and Denmark reacted with anxiety but also some relief that negotiations with the U.S. would go on and European support was becoming visible.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the continuation of “dialogue and diplomacy.”
“Greenland is not for sale,” he said Thursday. “Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed from the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”
In Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, local residents told The Associated Press they were glad the first meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and American officials had taken place but suggested it left more questions than answers.
Several people said they viewed Denmark’s decision to send more troops, and promises of support from other NATO allies, as protection against possible U.S. military action. But European military officials have not suggested the goal is to deter a U.S. move against the island.
Maya Martinsen, 21, said it was “comforting to know that the Nordic countries are sending reinforcements” because Greenland is a part of Denmark and NATO.
The dispute, she said, is not about “national security” but rather about “the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched.”
On Wednesday, Poulsen announced a stepped-up military presence in the Arctic “in close cooperation with our allies,” calling it a necessity in a security environment in which “no one can predict what will happen tomorrow.”
“This means that from today and in the coming time there will be an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from other NATO allies,” Poulsen said.
Asked whether the European troop movements were coordinated with NATO or what role the U.S.-led military alliance might play in the exercises, NATO referred all questions to the Danish authorities. However, NATO is currently studying ways to bolster security in the Arctic.
The Russian embassy in Brussels on Thursday lambasted what it called the West's “bellicose plans” in response to “phantom threats that they generate themselves”. It said the planned military actions were part of an “anti-Russian and anti-Chinese agenda” by NATO.
“Russia has consistently maintained that the Arctic should remain a territory of peace, dialogue and equal cooperation," the embassy said.
Commenting on the outcome of the Washington meeting on Thursday, Poulsen said the working group was “better than no working group” and “a step in the right direction.” He added nevertheless that the dialogue with the U.S. did not mean “the danger has passed.”
The most important thing for Greenlanders is that they were directly represented at the meeting in the White House and that “the diplomatic dialogue has begun now,” Juno Berthelsen, a lawmaker for the pro-independence Naleraq opposition party, told AP.
A relationship with the U.S. is beneficial for Greenlanders and Americans and is “vital to the security and stability of the Arctic and the Western Alliance,” Berthelsen said. He suggested the U.S. could be involved in the creation of a coast guard for Greenland, providing funding and creating jobs for local people who can help to patrol the Arctic.
In Washington, Rasmussen and Motzfeldt also met with a bipartisan group of senators at the U.S. Capitol.
“We really appreciate that we have close friends in the Senate and the House as well,” Rasmussen told reporters, adding that Denmark would work to “accommodate any reasonable American requests” with Greenland.
There has been significant concern among lawmakers of both political parties that Trump could upend the NATO alliance by insisting on using military force to possess Greenland. Key Republicans lawmakers have pushed back on those plans and suggested that the Trump administration should work with Denmark to enhance mutual security in the Arctic.
Line McGee, 38, from Copenhagen, told AP that she was glad to see some diplomatic progress. “I don’t think the threat has gone away,” she said. “But I feel slightly better than I did yesterday.”
Trump, in his Oval Office meeting with reporters, said: “We’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out.”
Niemann reported from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Ciobanu from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Michelle L. Price in Washington and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
From left, Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, Danish and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, stand with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., amid President Donald Trump's ambitions to take control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, during a meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt speak at a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
People walk on a street in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
From center to right, Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, Denmark's Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen, rear, and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, right, arrive on Capitol Hill to meet with senators from the Arctic Caucus, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
An Airbus A400M transport aircraft of the German Air Force taxis over the grounds at Wunstorf Air Base in the Hanover region, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026 as troops from NATO countries, including France and Germany, are arriving in Greenland to boost security. (Moritz Frankenberg/dpa via AP)
Fishermen load fishing lines into a boat in the harbor of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, left, and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, arrive on Capitol Hill to meet with members of the Senate Arctic Caucus, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
