Hundreds of fugitives were found living as Buddhist monks during temple raids in Thailand.

The suspects allegedly sought safe haven in temples - where head-shaving and a Hermit-like life are mandatory - across the country to avoid detection by the police.

Authorities discovered they were hiding in plain sight amid a sweeping crackdown in over 200 religious sites today.

Footage shows cops arresting a monk named Surat, 45, while he was walking around collecting donations in Pathum Thani on August 5.

Police said Surat was a monk at the Wat Wan Bun temple who was wanted for allegedly receiving funds for a transnational gang involved in money laundering and drug offences.

Investigations found he was an unregistered ethnic person from northern Thailand who entered monkhood 10 years ago.

Surat has denied the charges claiming someone else had borrowed his bank account to use for illegal purposes.

Police Major General Jaroonkiat Pankaew, deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, who led the raids, said: 'Police are hunting 154 monks including high-ranking abbots, while 27 suspects had already disrobed. We are currently investigating them to make arrests.'

An estimated 93.4 per cent of the Thai population is Buddhist, with some 45,000 temples across Thailand, according to the National Office of Buddhism.

Public trust in the country's Buddhist order has eroded after a string of high-ranking monks were caught in a femme fatale seduction scandal in July.

The religious leaders allegedly funneled temple funds to a woman named Wirawan Emsawat, also known as Sika Golf, 35, who allegedly seduced them to gain access to the money, which she reportedly used for her gambling habit.

She was said to have stolen a staggering 385 million baht (8.9 million GBP) from temple coffers before being arrested at her luxury home in Bangkok on July 15.