A sex scandal has rocked Thailand’s Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly enticed a string of monks into having sex with her and then blackmailed them.

At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said.

Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, is accused of enticing senior monks into having sex with her and then pressuring them into making large payments to cover it up.

Thai monks are largely members of the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching a woman.

Several monks transferred large amounts of money after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them, police said -her bank accounts received around 385 million baht (£8.8m) in the past three years, with most of that spent on gambling websites.

Wilawan was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province, north of the capital Bangkok, on charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods.

Thai media reported a search of her mobile phones revealed tens of thousands of photos and videos, as well as numerous chat logs indicating intimacy with several monks, many of which could be used for blackmail.

An investigation was launched last month after an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood.

He had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan over their romantic relationship, investigators found.

She told the monk she was pregnant and asked him to pay her 7.2 million baht (£165,000), Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, said at a news conference in Bangkok on Tuesday.

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Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to review and consider tightening existing laws related to monks and temples, especially the transparency of temple finances, to restore faith in Buddhism, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said on Tuesday.

The Central Investigation Bureau has set up a Facebook page for people to report monks who misbehave, Mr Jaroonkiat said.

“We will investigate monks across the country,” he said. “I believe that the ripple effects of this investigation will lead to a lot of changes.”

Last night, Ford released a pair of electrified Ford Bronco models – a pure battery-electric version packing a massive 105.4 kWh battery pack and an EREV version with its own whopping 43.7 kWh battery and 800 miles of combined range. That’s the good news.

The bad news? You’ll probably never see either them.

Ford Authority reports that these Bronco New Energy models (“new energy” is name often given to electrified vehicles in China) will be produced in China by Jiangling Ford exclusively for the Chinese market. But, while the New Energy versions may look like their ICE-powered cousins, that’s where the similarities seem to end.

It’s its own thing

Developed specifically for the Chinese-market and apparently designed for more on-road driving, the Bronco New Energy is visually similar to “our” Bronco Sport, but reportedly much, much larger. “At roughly 198 inches long,” reports The Drive, “this Bronco is about nine inches longer than a gas four-door and has more than two feet on a Sport. It also carves a wider footprint than all Stateside models except the widened Wildtrak, and weighs around 5,800 pounds.”

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The EREV version of the Bronco New Energy reportedly weighs in a bit under that, at “just” 5,500 lbs.

Powering the big battery-electric Ford Bronco features a pair of electric drive motors, a 130 kW (~175 hp) unit up front and a 202 kW (~270 hp) unit at the rear for AWD performance. They’re powered by a 105.4 kWh LFP “blade” battery from BYD’s FinDreams subsidiary, which also provides similar batteries to Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai.

That battery/motor configuration is reportedly efficient enough to give Ford Bronco EV buyers up to 650 km of driving range, or just over 400 miles on the Chinese WLTP cycle.

The EREV version makes do with “just” 43.7 kWh of battery – but that’s an EV battery all on its own in some markets, and with more than 200 km of electric-only range (over 130 miles), the 1.5L turbocharged ICE genset probably won’t get much use. That said, once it does kick on the combined gas-electric hybrid system will reportedly travel more than 1,220 km (~750 miles) before it needing to get topped off.

Those specs come from Chinese auto industry analyst Tycho de Feijter, and I’ve included his original tweet about the reveal, below.

The photos, from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) also hints at a new ADAS cluster above the windscreen that seems to incorporate LiDAR and sensors at the front fenders. There’s no word on whether this is the rumored “Level 3” autonomous tech stack Ford has been teasing since last June, but a high-profile launch like the company’s first-ever electric Bronco in a critical market like China makes a ton of sense to me.

The Ford Bronco New Energy EV and EREV models are expected to launch in China later this year. Pricing and options have yet to be announced.

Electrek’s Take

An all-electric or even EREV Ford Bronco like this one – a bit more mainstream and less off-road focused than the 60s-inspired we have now – would do great numbers in the US as a rival to the Kia EV9, Rivian R1S, or six-passenger Model Y (I know the X is a better comparison, but no one’s buying those). Under the current Trump Administration and franchise dealer body, though, an EREV might receive a warmer welcome. But while Ford has said that it plans to offer extended-range EVs in the US under a variety of nameplates, those are at least two years away.

IMAGES: MIIT, Ford.

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