Cambodian police have detained a self-styled Buddhist guru, notorious for not bathing for 60 years, after he wrote a "strange" letter to King Norodom Sihanouk.
Interior ministry spokesman Chhay Sinarith said 81-year-old Kampuchea Roth was not arrested but was detained for two days while police queried him over the letter that told Sihanouk the key to peace was in resolving border disputes.
"We just called him in to ask questions because he wrote something strange," he told the English language Cambodia Daily newspaper. "We also wanted to know why he didn't wash for 60 years."
Border disputes between Cambodia and Vietnam in the east and Thailand in the west are not uncommon and Kampuchea Roth had advocated using the international community to solve the disputes.
The letter raised concerns because such issues are seen as meddling in Cambodia's internal affairs of state.
Kampuchea Roth, who goes by the job title "Land Spirit" and claims to have meditated on 306 mountains, says his devotion to Buddhism means water is not alllowed to touch his skin or his long matted dreadlocks.
Chhay Sinarith said the well-known guru's responses to the questions were odd but police had deemed he posed no threat.