Poor monk has nothing but his eight ATM cards..

BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) Chinese police, disguised as tourists visiting a mountain temple, have arrested a suspected embezzler dressed up as a monk, state media said.

Chen Boshi, a manager in the eastern province of Jiangxi, was suspected of embezzling 6,500 from his power company and fled to the temple in the neighboring province of Hubei last October, Xinhua news agency said yesterday.

After a tip-off, police searched several temples in the Henggang Mountain area and ''noticed a monk in his 40s wearing a cassock and glasses, walking away on a mountain path with a string of beads in his hand,'' Xinhua said.

An officer approached him and pretended to be lost, asking the way. Chen's response was to try to run away into the surrounding forest, it said.

He had eight ATM cards on him when he was eventually caught, Xinhua said.

Reuters RL RAI1102