Police car bomb probe reaches Suphan Buri
Dozens of commandos and police yesterday conducted searches in many areas of Suphan Buri province in the hope of finding evidence of the alleged assassination plot against caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
A search was conducted in the morning at the house and car-detailing shop of Lt-Colonel Manas Sukprasert in Uthong district. Manas is an officer attached to Internal Security Operation Command (Isoc) in Bangkok and is believed to be close to former Isoc deputy director General Pallop Pinmanee. Pallop was sacked after police arrested Isoc's Lieutenant Thawatchai Klinchana as he drove a bomb-laden car near Thaksin's residence in Bang Phlat district last month. He was linked to an assassination plot against Thaksin. However, police charged him with being in possession of explosives. Police yesterday confiscated an electrical device from Manas' house but could not give further details. Other confiscated items included black plastic tape and blue ropes. In the shop's office, police found pictures of Manas with Pallop. In the bedroom on the second floor, police expressed suspicions that the room was recently cleaned and did not have the sort of items normally found in bedrooms. Moreover, there was not a single document in the bedroom. Manas' wife Orapin said that her husband left on Friday to visit his brother in Bangkok and she could not contact him. The commandos then moved to search houses of Uthit Hiranrat, a former provincial councillor in the same district. Uthit told police that he had been a friend of Manas for long time. He last saw him in April. "If I thought that Manas was really involved in the alleged plot, I would certainly try to stop him. I admire Khun Thaksin and his policies, so how could I be involved in the attempt?" he said. Police were seen collecting soil, sand and some chemical substances from the houses of Manas and Uthit. Police Lt-General Montri Jamroon, Crime Suppression commander, said in Bangkok that police believed they had enough evidence to ask for arrest warrants for more accomplices from the court on Monday, but he declined to give a hint about the suspects. Meanwhile, Thawatchai's lawyer Sirichai Pakdee said he would try again on Tuesday to bail Thawatchai out after the court rejected his first request.
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