Bomb Plot = Update

[lung]

nation online 8.9.2006

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ALLEGED BOMB PLOT

Top general said to be mastermind

Accused says 4 senior officers targeted PM over 'damage he's caused nation'

One of three military personnel linked to the alleged car-bomb plot to kill the caretaker prime minister turned himself in to police yesterday and said four other senior officers were behind the plot.

Police said Sgt-Major Chakhrit Janthara told them a four-star general masterminded the murder plot against Thaksin Shinawatra for "having damaged the country".

Citing what they described as Chakhrit's 10-page written confession, police said three other officers were involved in the murder plot - a Maj-General Sor, a Maj-General Tor and a Colonel Bor, all assigned to the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc). Chakhrit was also at Isoc.

Police did not say whether Chakhrit had specified whether the alleged mastermind was assigned to Isoc.

Three Army personnel, including Chakhrit, surrendered to police yesterday. Combined with Chakhrit's implication of four other officers, as well as the two officers currently in military custody, the total number of military personnel allegedly involved in the plot has grown to nine.

General Pallop Pinmanee, a deputy Isoc director who was sacked on August 24, the day police intercepted the Daewoo sedan loaded with explosives, said he would not comment on Chakhrit's statement in regard to the "mastermind" issue.

Excluding Chakhrit, who is the most junior of the military personnel in custody, no other officers have cooperated with police.

Citing "Chakhrit's confession", police said the non-commissioned officer had proposed shooting Thaksin, but Colonel Suraphol Supradit, who surrendered himself yesterday morning shortly after Maj-General Phairoj Theerapharb, said "the mastermind" wanted to use explosives.

Following is what police cited from Chakhrit's confession: Chakhrit and Suraphol later argued over the use of the bomb and its violent impact, but Suraphol finally insisted that "Hundreds of people may die from the bomb, but to save all 65 million Thai people, the Thaksin regime has to go."

Suraphol ordered Chakhrit to buy the Daewoo sedan, which was intercepted by police on August 24 and found loaded with explosives, from a used-car dealer. Chakhrit had the car painted bronze at a garage in the Ratchadaphisek area.

The car was later loaded with bomb materials, though Chakhrit was not involved. Chakhrit received several payments of Bt100,000 to pay for the operation.

He said Supaphol ordered him to find a spot for the Daewoo at the Air Force Terminal at Don Muang airport on August 9, but he was asked to leave by an Air Force military policeman while waiting for the driver to park the car.

Chakhrit said he was going to return to the airport the next day, when Thaksin was scheduled to fly to Cambodia, but the plan was postponed due to poor planning.

On August 24, Lt Thawatchai Klinchana was ordered to drive the Daewoo near Bang Phlat Intersection, and Lt-Colonel Manas Sudprasert, the second suspect arrested on Tuesday, was to wait with a remote-controlled detonator. Chakhrit said he did not go to the scene and did not know why the remote control unit did not work.

After the sedan was intercepted and found loaded with explosives, Suraphol ordered Manas to use Plan B, which was to kill Thaksin in an ambush using Russian-made Rocket Propelled Grenades or US-made M-79 rounds, but police identified the team members before the plot could be carried out.

Chakhrit claimed "the mastermind and executive operators" also had a Plan C, the staging of a military coup, if Plan B failed.

A police source said Chakhrit had decided to reveal all of this information because he feared he might be "silenced" by people familiar with the plot.

Speaking after Chakhrit was arrested, Central Investigation Bureau commander Lt-General Montree Jamroon said Chakhrit had confessed to all charges police had pressed against him. "The jigsaw puzzle is nearly complete, but I can tell you nothing about what he has said," Montree added.

Chakhrit was the first military staffer to surrender to police on Wednesday when he walked into the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) headquarters. He was questioned by police in the presence of military officers from the Judge Advocate Corps.

Maj-General Phairoj was the second to surrender. He arrived at the CSD compound in a van at 8.10am, ahead of the 10am deadline set by police for the suspects to surrender. He was escorted inside and had no chance to speak to waiting reporters.

Colonel Suraphol was the last to show up, shortly after 10am. He told reporters, "You go ask my bosses", when asked to explain his role in the alleged assassination plot.

All three officers have been charged with six criminal offences, as have Thawatchai, the driver of the Daewoo sedan, and Lt-Colonel Manas, who has been in military custody since his arrest on Tuesday.

The Bangkok military court accepted a police recommendation not to release the three on bail. They were later brought back to the CSD compound and kept separately in detention facilities before police began questioning them.

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what (?) khon ... are can do good??

[farangsay]

Sor , Tor , Bor ?

Seen that before somewhere ?

[sbk]

This news is already covered in depth in this thread here. Please post in that thread as multiple posts of the same topic wastes bandwidth, thanks

Topic closed