[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Nabbed suspect may hold key to host



Subject: Nabbed suspect may hold key to hostage-takers

<html>
<font size=4>Nabbed suspect may hold key to hostage-takers <br>
</font><font size=3>THAI authorities are hopeful that an arrested key
Burmese suspect would provide major clues leading to the capture of the
five heavily-armed Burmese -- and possibly other collaborators -- in the
daring siege last week of the Burmese embassy and 89 hostages. <br>
Aung Soe, who was arrested shortly after the armed raid on Oct 1, was
found carrying a dark-coloured sports bag carrying the attackers' demand
leaflets, a number of the ''9999'' red headband, a flag, some music note
sheets and ''a diary book'' which contained a laid-out plan of the armed
operation, said informed sources. <br>
One of the sources said Aung Soe, who is a former resident of the
Maneeloy holding centre for Burmese asylum-seekers in Ratchaburi
province, is still being detained for further questioning and for more
information that authorities hoped could lead to the identification of
the assailant group. <br>
The sources said the authorities now believe that there were at least
''five more Burmese collaborators'', including Aung Soe, who were the
supporting back-up team to the actual raiders that held the hostages for
25 hours before releasing them in return for their safe escape to the
western border. <br>
Through the uncut embassy telephone connection, the assailants, armed
with AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles and hand grenades, had been in touch
with their collaborators outside the compound for information on Thai
counter-siege operations, said the sources. <br>
At one point during the takeover on Oct 1, the leader of the militant
group, Kyaw Ni or Johnny, demanded that Aung Soe be brought to the
embassy, but it turned out that another Aung Soe from Maneeloy centre was
taken to the scene. Kyaw Ni, about 30, fired a volley of shots from his
machine gun. <br>
According to one source, Kyaw Ni had been demanding Aung Soe's sports
bag, which the authorities eventually returned to him early the following
day after copying the contents of the diary. <br>
As of yesterday, the authorities were still trying to establish the
identities of the attackers, who called themselves ''Vigorous Burmese
Student Warriors''. Government agencies have come up with different lists
of the five gunmen and were still cross-checking them with information
provided by the Burmese and foreign hostages. <br>
It is not yet known how much information the arrested Aung Soe had
provided to the police. <br>
So far the authorities were certain that two of the attackers were Kyaw
Ni and Myint Thein or Beda (water hyacinth), who used to earn his living
by singing at some Bangkok cafes. The police yesterday placed eight
criminal charges against the armed group. <br>
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand on Thursday
night, Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra tried to clarify
Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart's statement that he considered
the assailants ''students activists who fight for democracy'' in Burma
and not ''terrorists''. <br>
Sukhumbhand said what Sanan meant was that the group members were not
''professional international terrorists'' but that ''their act was one of
terrorism''. <br>
The clarification was seen as an attempt by the Thai government to
appease the Burmese junta who, while officially thanking Thailand for its
success in resolving the hostage crisis, had allowed its senior officers
and government-controlled media to criticise the Thai rescue operation
and accused the Thai military intelligence of being involved in the
embassy seizure. <br>
Sukhumbhand said although there was a void in the Thai legal system as
far as international terrorism is concerned, Thailand would proceed to
prosecute the armed group which ''had committed a crime against the Thai
law''. <br>
BY YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK <br>
The Nation</font>
<BR>
</html>