An undisclosed number of political leaders in southern Thailand, including some redshirts, were arrested and questioned yesterday. The Thai government is looking for the perpetrators of the bombings and arson attacks among radical political opponents.
The arrested suspects will be taken to a barracks in Bangkok and will be further questioned there.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has denied any connection on his part to the explosions and arson attacks in the seven southern provinces. Thaksin has also threatened to sue anyone who makes "false accusations" against him. His spokesman Noppadon Pattama of the Pheu Thai Party, for example, has said.
Police and soldiers raided the house of Prapas Rojanapitak (67) a well-known Redshirt activist in Trang on Saturday morning. He was taken to a military camp in Nakhon Si Thammarat and will later be transferred to Bangkok for interrogation. Prapas, a former communist insurgent, says he has nothing to do with the attacks and opposes violence. Also others political leaders in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung provinces were 'invited' for questioning.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks, but authorities have ruled out international terrorism. The government calls the attacks "local sabotage". Deputy Police Chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen says: "We are convinced that this was the work of a network with a leader."
Pongsapat says no arrests have been made of possible perpetrators so far. The reports that two men were arrested the day after the attacks, he refers to the land of fables. Some witnesses have been questioned. He also stressed that no "scapegoats" are arrested to please the public.
Surant Thani police commander Thesa Siriwatho is confident there will be “good news” in a day or two.
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) yesterday debunked rumors that the explosions were the work of the military. “The army will never harm the people. I can vouch for that with my life,” said NCPO spokesman Colonel Piyapong Klinphan.
Source: The Nation
I myself abhor these elite suggestions, to always point to the red shirts.
And coincidentally they now find all those bombs before they explode …… strange ….not .
And to be arrested is not to be arrested…. minor difference then..., think everyone would experience this differently themselves....
The army will never harm people, said the general, who has certainly forgotten that there were indeed victims in Bangkok in 2010 at the hands of the armed forces. The exchange of shots from the skytrain
(under the control of the army for days) towards the temple complex with I believe a number of dead and wounded. It has never been proven, so it has not happened.
Well, whoever pulls the strings is in charge here.
Hua Hin Chatchai market: no incendiaries but old power banks:
http://www.thairath.co.th/content/690222
“The army will never harm the people. I can vouch for that with my life,” said NCPO spokesman Colonel Piyapong Klinphan.
Can I have a piece?
The army has thousands of Thai deaths to its name!
Salt it up and go to the barracks, you leave democracy to the people.
paulusxxx, indeed. Just look at 1973-1976. Hundreds of protesting Thai students shot like rabid dogs. I was here then.
Oh how well we all know. Spit our unsalted frustrations on this site and know it all. So thoroughly Dutch, the famous little finger. I live in Hua Hin and have seen the bombs on Thursday evening from close by and the panic that followed in Bintabath. Just let the authorities do their job and wait for the result. Look around the world and see what chaos ensues. All kinds of attacks by all kinds of groups and individuals. This gives others ideas, resulting in these kinds of attacks. Whoever is in "power" in Thailand, the guilty are always sought first in the "camp" of the opposition. Time will tell.