N. Korea Aircraft Makes Emergency Landing At Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport

Dustybin · January 20, 2010

What an unholy alliance that sounds, the master of internal military coups with the master of external military coups.

IMA_FARANG · January 20, 2010

Just sort of reading through some of the replies to this subject...and this has nothing to do with original subject but some info for those who made silly statements in their posts.

1. Regarding European nations buying Iraqi oil during the Iraqi Oil Embargo after the 1st Gulf War.

I was working in Turkey at that time. Every night there was a convoy of oil tank trucks passing the Turkish Army camp at Diyabakar, Turkey. I was working there as a civilian for the U.S. Air Force at the time. Officially that road was closed from sunset to dawn, but there must have been at least 100 vehicles traveling on it every night. Mostly oil tanker trucks. The Turks simply let them pass through. The divers were Iraqi Kurds, the oil was from Iraqi wells in the Kurdish controlled section of Iraq. If you went to the Turkish port of Anatalya, you saw oil tankers in the harbor waitng to load oil. The oil was officially "Turkish" oil. The amount shipped out of that harbor every year exceeded the official Turkish oil production by 3 or 4 times. The oil was obviously Iraqi, first sold to the Kurds by the Iraqi government, then transpoted by the Kurds to Turkey, and finally sold by the Turks to European countries at a reduced price. The U.S. government had a small boat in Antalya, which was officially kept for the U.S. military stationed in Incirlik, to take out on "fishing" trips near Antalya for rereation. There were two U.S. Air Force officers who use that boat on a daily basis, and took pictures of the oil tankers in Anatalya harbor. The ships carried all the flags of the world and included Danish, Greek, French, British, and U.S. flagged vessels. The all loaded that "Turkish" oil.

2. It's true that the Thais allowd the Japanese Army to cross through Thailand an attack the British forces in Burma at the start of the war. At that time the Japanese had just defeated the British at Singapore and captured that garrison. The British were the only European military power left in S.E. Asia at that time...and they had been defeated. So when the Japanese asked the Thais to let their army pass through Thailand to Bumra, if the Thais said no, who was going to come to help them stop the Japanese Army. Not the British, the French were allies of Japan and Gemany, the Americans were much more concerned with their west coast ports after Pearl Harbor. So who was going to help the Thais at that time? No one was.

3. It's also true that the Thai ambassador in Washington never delivered the Thai government's declaration of war against the U.S. He resgned instead of delivering it. And the Thai Seri (free Thai) resistance was set up in Washington so the U.S. could funnel money and support to those Thais who opposed the Japanese.

4. And finally, I happened to be in Thailand at the start of the Falklnd's war. In the guest house where I was staying then, there were 3 or 4 Americans who worked for the U.S. Government Mapping Agency. They were in Thailand at the request of the Thai government to survey the border between Thailand and Cambodia, and to establish using sattelites, exacly where the border actually ran. About a month before the Falklands war began, this mapping team recieved a call from Washington. They were to leave immediately for the South Atlantic, and to provide on an emergency priority basis the best maps thy could make of some small islands belonging to the U.K. in the South Atlantic. I remember them asking us, before they left,"Where in heck are these Falkland Islands the Brits are so hot about?"

Oh and one more point. I was in Khamis Mushayt, a Saudi airbase at the start of the Iran/Iraq war. I saw with my own two little eyes the arrival of 3 Iraqi cargo planes, Russian made copies of the USAF C-141 transport. Two had Iraqi airforce markings, one was marked as an Iaqi Air civilian airplane. The Saudi National Gaurd then drove up with 9 cargo trucks holding medical supplies, food, and other military items (but no ammunition because the Iraqi Amy used Russian made ammo for their weapons). They loaded these nne truckloads of supplies onto the 3 planes, and the planes left for Bagdhad. All the supplies were stamped as having come from the U.S. military for delivery to the Saudi National Gaurd. At that time Iran was the enemy, not Iraq.

Edited January 20, 2010 by IMA_FARANG

cdnvic · January 20, 2010

Some very interesting info, but we're straying off the topic. Anything else to say on the NK aircraft situation?

geriatrickid · January 20, 2010

Yes. I think we all agree that the supply of arms by North Korea is not a good thing and that Thailand did the right thing in forcing the landing. Whoever helped identify the aircraft,whoever said bring it down, it does not matter, Thailand was the nation that did something it can be proud of. It's small act saved that most likely saved a few lives. Not so bad. On that we can all agree.

Let peace reign in the Kingdom.

dom samui · January 29, 2010

Eh Eh Eh

ALL of them will go FREE Today !!!

brahmburgers · January 29, 2010

Eh Eh Eh ALL of them will go FREE Today !!!

Apparently so. Smells like payoffs by their governments.

webfact · January 29, 2010

UPDATE

No interference in arms smuggling case from North Korea

BANGKOK: -- Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban on Friday refused on comment on the pending decision by public prosecutors to drop all charges related the arms smuggling case from North Korea.

If charges are dropped, as anticipated, then the four pilot and crew from Belarus and Kazakhstan would be released from remand.

Suthep said the public prosecutors have the mandate to decide on the legal merits whether or not to try the four.

-- The Nation 2010-01-29

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

webfact · January 29, 2010

UPDATE

Prosecutors Delay Decision on Arms Smuggling Case

BANGKOK: -- 29 January 2010

Public prosecutors have delayed the announcement of their decision on whether or not to pursue charges against 5 foreigners accused of arms smuggling. Prosecutors were originally scheduled to announce their decision today, but delayed the announcement, claiming they have not yet finished scrutinizing all the documents involved.

-- Tan Network 2010-01-29

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

dom samui · January 29, 2010

Oups Reported to 11 Feb.

animatic · January 29, 2010

Looking for a bigger payday for someone, mai?

webfact · January 29, 2010

UPDATE

NORTH KOREA ARMS PLANE

No interference in arms smuggling case : Suthep

By The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban on Friday refused to comment on the pending decision by public prosecutors to drop all charges against the crew of the North Korea arms plane

If charges are dropped, as anticipated, then the four; pilot and crew from Belarus and Kazakhstan would be released from remand.

The five are pilot Mikhail Petukhov from Belarus and four crew, Ilias Isakov, Alexander Zrybnev, Viktor Abdullaev and Vitaly Shumkov from Kazakhstan.

Suthep said the public prosecutors have the mandate to decide on the legal merits whether or not to try the four.

The Office of the Attorney General is expected to release its decision on the case later this morning.

The Russian-made IL76 cargo plane was seized by Thai authorities at Don Mueang Airport in mid of December after they discovered 35 tonnes of weapons.

The plane originated from Pyongyang and landed in Bangkok for refueling. Its final destination was not revealed.

The UN council has imposed an arms and military equipment embargo on North Korea after it exploded a nuclear device in May this year. North Korea is also prohibited from dealing on nuclear material and important nuclear technology.

-- The Nation 2010-01-29

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

webfact · January 29, 2010

UPDATE

Attorney general denies dropping charges against suspected arms traffickers

BANGKOK: -- Attorney General Julasing Wasantasing Friday dismissed a report that he has already decided to drop charges against suspected arms traffickers.

"That report is just a rumour," he said. Julasing's decision on the case is considered final.

In this case, five suspects were arrested in Bangkok late last month because their plane was loaded with war weapons. The suspects were First Pilot Ilyas Issakov, 56, Navigator Viktor Abdullayev, 58, Mechanic Mikhail Petukou, 54, Technician Alexandr Zrybnev, 53 and Second Pilot Vitaliy Shumkov, 54.

Petukou is a Belarusian while all other suspects are from Kazakhstan.

Their plane landed at the Don Mueang Airport for refuelling.

Kayasit Pisawongprakan, who heads the Office of the Attorney General's Criminal Litigation Division, Friday said Julasing had not yet made a decision on the case because he had to go through a lot of documents.

"He will need some more time," Kayasit said.

-- The Nation 2010-01-29

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

davee58 · January 29, 2010

And if they get released with all charges dropped . . . .

. . . . Do they get their guns back?

webfact · February 3, 2010

UPDATE

No release request for Korean arms plane crew: Thai state prosecutor

BANGKOK: -- Feb 3 (TNA) - Thailand's Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) have received no request from Kazakhstan or Belarus to temporarily release the five-man crew facing charges of illegal possession of explosive devices after arms were impounded from a Georgian-registered aircraft from North Korea at Don Mueang airport in December, according to a senior OAG official.

Sirisak Tiyaphan, director-general of the office of Attorney-General's international affairs department told reporters that the agency had not received any request from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

However, he said, if there was such a request, it would depend on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' decision to report it to the government in order to let the agencies concerned to jointly consider how to respond.

His remarks were in response to a report that Kazakhstan had request theThai government to temporarily release the five suspects.

The crew will likely face legal procedures in Kazakhstan and Belarus, MrSirisak said.

The five suspects--four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus--faced charges, including illegal arms possession.

Their Russian-made plane refuelled at Don Mueang airport on December 12 enroute from North Korea to Ukraine, via Sri Lanka.

New, ready-to-use military weapons include explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, components for surface-to-air missiles and other armaments totally weighing some 35 tonnes were carried on the aircraft.

The five men, who denied any involvement in transporting armaments, were arrested and charged with carrying weapons without permission, illegally bringing them to Thailand and failing to inform officials of their items.

The shipment breached the UN Security Council resolution which bans NorthKorea from exporting arms and weapons-related materiel.

The five-man crew were denied bail and are detained in Bangkok Special Prison. The OAG is scheduled to make decision whether to proceed with the case or not on February 11.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman denied claims that the Ilyushin Il-76cargo aircraft was bound for Iran's capital Tehran, saying that there is no link between the aircraft and Iran. (TNA)

-- TNA 2010-02-03

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

webfact · February 3, 2010