11 replies to this topic

[gay_grampa]

Police have arrested red-shirt guard Surachai "Rang" Thewarit, wanted for terrorism charge, in Lop Buri and will hand him over to the Department of Special Investigation this afternoon.

DSI director general Tharit Pengdit on Thursday confirmed the arrest of Surachai, who has a warrant out for involving in the firing of M-79 grenade launchers to attack the BTS station in Saladaeng and the police checkpoint near Lumpini Park during the red-shirt rally.

The attacks caused two deaths, including a policeman, and a number of injuries.

Deputy national police chief General Panupong Singhara na Anyutthaya said following his arrest, Surachai admitted his involvment in the M-79 attacks. He also told police some useful informations about the men in black, believed to belong to the armed unit of the red shirts.

The Nation

and which of you idiots want to argue that firing grenades into a BTS station is not terrorism?

[UncleSam]

and which of you idiots want to argue that firing grenades into a BTS station is not terrorism?

No one.....except some idiot who believes what the police say, especially as reported by the Nation. If you've ever seen Sarah Palin on Fox News, you'll know what I mean.

Hehehe....

[Oliver]

Apparently, "arrested" now means "convicted on evidence" in Thailand.... or would Gay Grampa care to explain?

[Sexpat]

"A man identified as a former right-hand man of late Army adviser Khattiya Sawasdiphol was allegedly behind several grenade and gunfire attacks during the red-shirt protests in May, in addition to two other attacks he admitted to after his arrest on Thursday, Department of Special Investigation sources said yesterday. . .

The suspect is under detention after the Criminal Court yesterday turned down his request for a temporary release. He has admitted to automatic gunfire into the Dusit Thani, but pleaded not guilty to the other two cases he allegedly admitted to on Thursday.

Special operations 191 police, who arrested Surachai in Lop Buri on Thursday, said he also admitted to firing M-79 grenades on several occasions towards People's Alliance for Democracy protesters during their occupation of the Government House compound two years ago...

Surachai also admitted to firing from an automatic rifle at Dusit Thani Hotel, on one occasion out of anger stemming from Khattiya being shot in the head, in the belief that the hotel sheltered the sharpshooter who had attacked the late Army major-general, the officer said. . .

The DSI first located the suspect after a sting in Chon Buri province in which he sold two AK-47 rifles, two M-79 launchers and 25 grenades to Navy agents for Bt60,000. The items were part of an arms cache allegedly given to him by Khattiya for use during the protests."

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/...I-30133963.html

[Hedda]

If the DSI has its way, they will probably charge this 25 year old guy with being the brain behind the 9-11 attacks on the world trade center when he was a teenager. They are certainly going to try to blame him for every bomb or grenade that has gone off in Bangkok for the last six months.

It's peculiar that DSI is describing him as being the "right hand man" of the assassinated red shirt General Khattiya, but he's apparently not an army man. What is a 25 year old civilian doing in that position ? You don't think this is a clumsy attempt to try to link the slain General Khattaya to the bombings, as if to justify his assassination as something other than a terrorist act in itself ?

The man has apparently pleaded not guilty to any bombing attack, contrary to police reports in the press which claimed that he admitted everything when he was first arrested. There's a pattern here and it's consistent, if not totally incredible.

[gay_grampa]

If the DSI has its way, they will probably charge this 25 year old guy with being the brain behind the 9-11 attacks on the world trade center when he was a teenager.

You really should think before leaping for the keyboard.
Not everyone in Thailand is as moronic as you.

[Gene]

Hey Gramps, aren't you the guy who was screaming last week about posters not giving the full quote and misleading people ? You seem to have left off this second part of the quote: "They are certainly going to try to blame him for every bomb or grenade that has gone off in Bangkok for the last six months."

I'd be interested to know if you think that shooting General Khattaya dead was a terrorist act.

[Sexpat]

"Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit dismisseed DSI public statement that Surachai took part in eight grenade and gunfire attacks during the street fighting in May.

He said the suspect was only 25 and had never served in the military or received any arms training. "He is pictured like a superhero, who could launch many attacks amid tight security provided by tens of thousands of police and soldiers," he said.

He called on the government and DSI to make public their progress on Surachai's case only when it the entire process was completed, saying the government was taking advantage of the case by painting the late major general Khattaya as a scapegoat to whitewash itself from using violence during the redshirt protest.

Prompong also said the DSI's periodic release of information on the case's progress was also intended to discredit the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship and its leader Korkaew Phikulthong, who is campaigning in a byelection in Bangkok on July 25."

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/...T-30134053.html

[Hedda]

This case is getting more curious every day. When this guy was arrested in Lop Buri last week, the police said that the suspect "re-entered Thailand on June 20" after he "had fled to Cambodia after the main red-shirt protest site at the Rajaprasong intersection was dispersed by troops on May 19" http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/...I-30133963.html

In today's papers, however, other police now claim that they were involved in a sting operation to purchase weapons from the suspect ...allegedly given to him by General Khattiya for use during the protests... "in Sattahip district of Chon Buri province on June 10." It seems the suspect has the ability to be hiding in Cambodia and selling arms in Chonburi at the same time.

Today's police announcement also contains the significant comment that the weapons purchased int he sting " were manufactured in China and were still new. They were not stolen from army soldiers during the riots as earlier believed." In other words, all those claims that were made by the government and CRES before and after the May 19 crackdown, that the weapons that the red shirts had stolen from the army during the protests being re-sold to promote violence, were dead WRONG.

Police still, of course, insist that this 25 year old suspect who has no army service or weapons training, was nonetheless General Khattaya's "right hand man," responsible for all of the following attacks in Bangkok:

1. The M79 attack on the 11th Infantry Regiment headquarters on March 28. Four soldiers were wounded.

2. The clash between government troops and red-shirt protesters at the Khok Wua intersection on April 10. Mr Surachai and other "men in black" fired M79 rounds at both the soldiers and the protesters during the melee. Five soldiers were killed and 24 civilians wounded.

3. The RPG attack on an oil depot in Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district on April 21.

4. The M79 attack on a BTS skytrain station at the Sala Daeng intersection on April 22. One people was killed and 75 others wounded.

5. The RPG attack on the Dusit Thani Hotel on May 17.

6. The M79 attack on a police flat at Lumpini on May 19. Many people were wounded.

7. The M16 attack on a police booth in front of the Krung Thai Bank near the Sala Daeng intersection on May 7. One policeman was killed and two others wounded.

8. The M79 attack on a Lumpini police security checkpoint opposite the Ue Chue Liang building on Rama IV road on May 8. One people was killed and four policemen injured.

Since the police appear to concede, however, that the suspect has thus far refused to plead guilty to any of these attacks, one might ask whether any evidence exists to support the police claims. Then again, in Thailand under the State of Emergency, unsupported accusations by CRES or the police seem to be all that is required to hold people in prison without charges or bail. You don't suppose they will claim next that the assassinated General Khattaya ordered this guy to perform all those attacks ?

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1868...in-arms-trading

[Sexpat]

"Taiwan yesterday dismissed allegations that it was being used as training ground for a suspected terrorist who had close connections with late Maj-General Khattiya Sawasdipol, as well as the red-shirt movement.

Taipei's Office of Economic and Culture sent a diplomatic note to the Foreign Ministry asking Thai authorities to clarify a report filed by the Department of Special Investigation that terrorist suspect Surachai "Rang" Thewarat was getting trained in armed combat in Taiwan.

The office said the report was groundless since Taiwanese authorities had no records of Surachai entering its territory over the past year."

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/...l-30134134.html

[tdperhs]

and which of you idiots want to argue that firing grenades into a BTS station is not terrorism?

It truly is an act of terrorism by definition, which, according to OED is

"the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims."

Of course this includes every person or persons involved in some noble act of violent rebellion against tyranny, like George Washington, Benito Juarez, Spartacus, Boudica, Julius Caesar, Simon Bar Kokhbar, Mohammed Ibn Abdullah, Mao Zedong, Christopher Columbus, Vladimir Lenin, Owen Glendower, Rob Roy MacGregor, Empress Dowager Cixi, James ben Jessel (brother of Jesus), Oliver Cromwell, William Wallace, Michael Collins, Pope Urban II, John Kennedy, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Garibaldi, Sitting Bull, Robert E. Lee, Emilio Aguinaldo, Jan Kubiš, Ahmed Ben Bella, Geronimo, and Yasser Arafat, to name only a few. Add to that the fact that 19 obscure "terrorists" brought to its whimping knees the most powerful nation in the history of the world on 11/9/2001, I have to conclude your Surachai "Rang" Thewarit is in damned impressive company. If there is a big showy trial and he is convicted, his place in history is clearly established, whether as a rebel or a patriot depends on who wins.

To tell the truth though, if I were he, I would say I did it and set myself up as a martyr to the cause. But then I'm not 25 years old.

I gather you get a great deal of satisfaction out of any publication putting down the insurgents. My own careful observations of the situation in Bangkok lead me to believe that the most vocal and aggressive attackers of the insurgents are people of Chinese ancestry. Since your writing betrays a measured uncertainty with the English language, it has crossed my mind that your ethnic background might include Chinese heritage. Only asking.

[Dick]

Since your writing betrays a measured uncertainty with the English language, it has crossed my mind that your ethnic background might include Chinese heritage. Only asking.

I don't see that at all. My bet is that Liverpool or East End might be closer to the truth.