According to local reports, a man has been arrested after he led a group that attempted to bring two sex dolls, dressed up in traditional dresses and tiaras, into Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda, the most famous Buddhist pilgrimage site in Myanmar.
A press release from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, published in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, says the blow-up over the sex dolls (which the statement refers to as “Lady Dolls”) began on Saturday morning when a group of eight people arrived with the dolls, which they attempted to bring to the famed golden pagoda’s main platform.
Security guards prevented the group’s entry to the pagoda, so the group instead walked around the site before placing the dolls on a pedestal in the shrine’s parking lot, where they performed “ritual incantations”. Security guards then interrogated the group and “rid the pagoda precinct of the dolls”
Images of the dolls quickly went viral on social media, with many expressing outrage over the incident. The ministry said it would file a case against, U Shine Zarni Aung, the alleged ringleader of the group, for defamation of the Buddhist Religion.
The Chindwin News Agency reported that Aung was arrested on Sunday evening.
Khit Thit Media posted more images of the incident as well as an alleged invoice for the two dolls putting their collective price at $4,800.
Related: Rural villagers find what they believe to be an angel from heaven, turns out to be a sex doll
