09-21-2003, 05:41 PM
BANGKOK, Sept 21 (AFP) - A Thai soldier confessed Sunday to supplying small arms to contacts of Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels arrested in southern Thailand earlier this year, police said.
A special investigative team searched the home of chief warrant officer Surachai Sompong in the eastern province of Chonburi early Sunday and arrested him after finding a pistol and two grenades, Police Major General Panupong Singhara told reporters.
Panupong said the suspect confessed to supplying 13 pistols to contacts of Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been engaged in a shaky peace bid with the Sri Lankan government over the past year.
"He confessed that he had supplied 13 pistols to the contact group arrested in Ranong," he told reporters.
The three contacts were nabbed in May in Ranong city, some 570 kilometres (353 miles) south of Bangkok, where police seized 10 nine-millimetre pistols, three 11-millimetre pistols and 45,000 rounds of ammunition.
Intelligence sources said at the time the weapons came from Bangkok and were to be smuggled out of the country.
The Thai soldier said he had received three cheques each worth 10 million baht (246,305 dollars) from the Sri Lankans, Panupong said.
Local reports, meanwhile, said police have started questioning the owners of eight gun shops in the historic quarter of Bangkok after nine Thai police officers were investigated over helping to supply arms to the contacts.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed during a visit to Colombo in August that he would crack down on terror groups amid reports that the LTTE were using Thailand as a transit point for gun running.
The kingdom hosted peace talks between the Colombo government and the LTTE in September last year.
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dt/Qthailan...l.RsNT_DSL.html
A special investigative team searched the home of chief warrant officer Surachai Sompong in the eastern province of Chonburi early Sunday and arrested him after finding a pistol and two grenades, Police Major General Panupong Singhara told reporters.
Panupong said the suspect confessed to supplying 13 pistols to contacts of Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been engaged in a shaky peace bid with the Sri Lankan government over the past year.
"He confessed that he had supplied 13 pistols to the contact group arrested in Ranong," he told reporters.
The three contacts were nabbed in May in Ranong city, some 570 kilometres (353 miles) south of Bangkok, where police seized 10 nine-millimetre pistols, three 11-millimetre pistols and 45,000 rounds of ammunition.
Intelligence sources said at the time the weapons came from Bangkok and were to be smuggled out of the country.
The Thai soldier said he had received three cheques each worth 10 million baht (246,305 dollars) from the Sri Lankans, Panupong said.
Local reports, meanwhile, said police have started questioning the owners of eight gun shops in the historic quarter of Bangkok after nine Thai police officers were investigated over helping to supply arms to the contacts.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed during a visit to Colombo in August that he would crack down on terror groups amid reports that the LTTE were using Thailand as a transit point for gun running.
The kingdom hosted peace talks between the Colombo government and the LTTE in September last year.
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dt/Qthailan...l.RsNT_DSL.html
Truth 'll prevail