Police raid homes of alleged bomb plotters
Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday said the alleged car-bomb plot to assassinate him was part of an ongoing attempt to oust him from politics that stretched as far back as the mass rallies at the beginning of the year, according to a news report.
The Thai News Agency quoted Thaksin during his flight to Tajikistan as saying "from the mass protests that failed to oust me and the failed attempt to gather support to oust me through a coup, as well as other illegal means, to this last resort - a zero-sum game - that aimed to kill me, the culprits must be locked up in jail". His statement was the strongest yet linking the alleged plot to the political deadlock between the premier and the anti-government camp demanding that he quit politics once and for all. Separately, police searched seven Bangkok residences belonging to military personnel allegedly linked to the reported plot to kill Thaksin. Nothing incriminating was found but the search illustrated the level of anxiety among investigators to come up with evidence to support the prime minister's claim. Police raided homes belonging to Maj-General Phairoj Theerapharb, Colonel Surapol Supradit and Sgt-Major Chakhrit Janthara and an accomplice identified as Maj-General Sor. Pol Maj-General Jate Mongkholhatthee, a senior investigator in charge of the case, said the raids were part of a thorough investigation and not conducted entirely as a result of a confession allegedly made by Chakhrit. According to police, Chakhrit, who surrendered to police on Wednesday, confessed that a four-star general was the plot's mastermind. He also implicated three other officers - a Maj-General Sor, a Maj-General Tor and a Colonel Bor - who are assigned to Internal Security Operations Command, as he is. Chakhrit was taken yesterday afternoon to conduct a re-enactment at the Air Force Airport at Don Muang. Chakhrit claimed he had driven his pickup truck there on August 9 and 10 - following Surapol's pickup - to mark the spot for Lieutenant Thawatchai Klinchana to park the bomb-laden Daewoo sedan on a route used by the premier's motorcade. Phairoj was the second officer to turn himself in to police, but was not included in Chakhrit's implication claims. He was released on bail by the Bangkok military court on Thursday, while Surapol - the third to surrender - was still detained. All three officers were charged with six criminal offences, as were Thawatchai and Lt-Colonel Manas Sukprasert, who has been in military custody since his arrest on Tuesday. On August 24, police defused the explosives in a bomb-laden vehicle parked on the PM's route to his office and arrested driver Thawatchai.
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