At least nine abbots and senior monks involved in the scandal have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, police said.

Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in violation of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts.

The controversy erupted after Phra Thep Wachirapamok—widely known as Arch—the highly respected abbot of Bangkok’s Wat Tri Thotsathep Worawihan temple, abruptly renounced his monkhood and fled to Laos in June.