A cult leader has been arrested after police found 11 dead bodies in home - where he allegedly made followers drink his own body waste.

Horrified officers raided the house and found an elderly man who claimed to be the ‘father of all religion’ in the middle of the jungle of Chaiyaphum province, Thailand on May 8.

The cult leader Tawee Nanla, 74, is said to have forced his followers to drink his urine and eat his faeces. He even reportedly stopped the members from leaving to return home to their relatives.

Police arrested the pensioner, who used the nickname Joseph, and remanded him in custody to be grilled by investigating officers. He told them that all of his 'followers' were there willingly.

Tawee said: 'I didn't force anybody to stay here or do anything they didn't want to.'

The raid came after Khun Jenjira, 53, from Khon Kaen province, complained to officials that her 80-year-old mother was staying at the site and was being barred from returning home.

She said: 'I went to visit my mother. I saw how women were forced to follow a dress code by wearing a knee-length sarong and men had to wear formal trousers. Everybody had to remove their shoes before entering the site.

'But what was even more shocking was that I watched my mother rub the leader’s phlegm on her face and ate the man’s scurf. There were 11 dead bodies of the devotees on the premises. My mother had also instructed me to leave her body in the same place.

'The followers defy all covid rules. They said that, once you have devoted your life to following the man’s teaching, you will be safe from Covid-19.'

The cult leader claimed that he had never forced his followers to consume his body waste and that all of them did it voluntarily.

As for the dead bodies, the long-haired leader said that he had stored the dead bodies to wait for the spirits to return to heaven.

Five coffins were found outside the shelter, one of which was of a dead infant and another, of his dead mother. All of the coffins were drilled to allow the lymph fluid to flow out.

Devotee Mana, 45, said: ‘We have papers showing that the relatives have given consent with a death certificate. Some of them have practiced meditation in this place.’

‘As for the burial, we follow the process of the medical team. The body is put in a sealed bag and injected with formaldehyde to prevent the corpse from rotting.’

Chaiyaphum province governor Kraisorn Kongchalad said the authorieties were 'shocked' after receiving reports about what had happened in the cult.

He said: 'Police in the area will be taking actions according to the law. The group hasn’t been following covid-19 measures, as we found other devotees not wearing masks.

'Officers will seize the 11 bodies to perform an autopsy and find the cause of death. I never knew that in this area there was such a strange meditation sect. The cult leader will be prosecuted if found guilty of any crime.'

Police Colonel Wattanachai Chanthathum added: ‘Officers have already confirmed that there are 11 bodies on the premises. So far, there were trespassing charges against the religious sect. There will be a thorough investigation so the right legal procedure can be followed.’