Thai Army strikes Lotto, get 35 tons of free weapons.

[Papsmearer]

Thailand to charge plane crew over North Korean arms
Buzz up!1 vote Send
Email IM Share
Delicious Digg Facebook Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Twitter Yahoo! Bookmarks Print Reuters – Thai security personnel surround a cargo plane that made an emergency landing at Don Muang airport in …
Play Video North Korea Video:Pyongyang hints at talks restart Reuters Play Video North Korea Video:U.S. envoy on North Korea mission Reuters Play Video North Korea Video:U.S. Nuclear envoy arrives in North Korea AP By Panarat Thepgumpanat Panarat Thepgumpanat – 2 hrs 15 mins ago
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand will press charges against the crew of a plane forced to land in Bangkok and found to be carrying arms from North Korea, officials said on Sunday, adding it was unclear where the plane had been going.

Military and police sources, declining to be named, said the United States had tipped the Thai authorities off about the 35 tons of arms that the plane held, which flouted United Nations sanctions against North Korea.

They said the five crew members -- four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus -- were saying little.

Police spokesman Pongsapat Pongcharoen said the five would be charged with illegal possession of weapons on Monday morning, adding they were denying the charge and saying they had no idea they were transporting arms.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the authorities believed the plane had initially planned to refuel in Sri Lanka and it was not clear why the crew had asked to make an emergency landing in Bangkok to refuel and check a wheel.

"The Thai authorities acted on tips from intelligence agencies of many countries," he said, adding the crew had initially declared the cargo to be oil-drilling equipment.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Thailand had acted in accordance with United Nations resolutions.

"What I understand is that the plane was to have refueled at Sri Lanka. The goods are from North Korea. The people are from Kazhakstan and Belarus and the plane is from Georgia," he said on Thai television.

North Korea has been hit with fresh United Nations sanctions to punish it for a nuclear test in May. These are aimed at cutting off its arms sales, a vital export item estimated to earn the destitute state more than $1 billion a year.

The North's biggest arms sales come from ballistic missiles, with Iran and other Middle Eastern states being customers, according to U.S. government officials.

ASKED TO INVESTIGATE

An air force official involved in the inspection of the craft, who declined to be named, said on Saturday the Thai authorities had been asked by the United States to investigate the plane and its cargo.

"We were approached by the United States, seeking our cooperation to examine the suspected plane. It came from North Korea and was heading for somewhere in South Asia, probably Pakistan," the official told Reuters.

Monthon Sutchukorn, a deputy spokesman for the Thai Air Force, told Reuters the plane was impounded at 3 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Friday.

"The air force took control of the plane in the evening of December 11," he added. "We found a huge amount of weapons ... all of which was transferred to be kept at a safe place belonging to the air force."

The authorities have declined to give details about the arms.

A military source said the haul included rocket-propelled grenades, missile and rocket launchers, missile tubes, surface-to-air missile launchers, spare parts and other heavy weapons. Experts will be taking a closer look on Tuesday.

The plane was an Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft, registered in Georgia.

A police source said the final destination could have been somewhere in South Asia or the Middle East, after a scheduled refuelling stop in Sri Lanka.

Military officials in Colombo said the consignment had not been destined for Sri Lanka.

"Why should Sri Lanka buy from North Korea when the same is available in China?" one official said.

The U.N. sanctions and the cut-off of handouts from South Korea have dealt a heavy blow to the North, which has an estimated GDP of $17 billion, and may force it back into nuclear disarmament talks in the hopes of winning aid, analysts said.

(Reporting by Ambika Ahuja and Khettiya Jittapong in Bangkok, Jon Herskovitz in Seoul and Ranga Sirilal in Colombo; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Aiyah, why sinkie pore not so lucky.

 

[taksinloong]

They better return it to Putin or pay for it. They can not afford to piss off Moscow.

If Putin wish to arm the southern Thai rebels he can supply them with better arm than Royal Thai Army have got. Abi-SHIT will shit in his pants.

 

[Papsmearer]

They better return it to Putin or pay for it. They can not afford to piss off Moscow.

If Putin wish to arm the southern Thai rebels he can supply them with better arm than Royal Thai Army have got. Abi-SHIT will shit in his pants.

The weapons are from North Korea, not Russia.

 

[postnew]

Thai authorities hold crew of plane after arms find | Reuters

 

[postnew]

屁股洗清洁坐牢

 

[postnew]

The plane was carrying 40 tonnes of heavy weapons from Pyongyang in North Korea


Detained foreigners who declined to give names are led by a Thai police officer, left, to the interrogation room at the crime suppression division office Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand.

There were differing local media reports about the plane's destination, with some saying it was headed to Sri Lanka and others saying Pakistan.
"I cannot disclose the destination of their plane because this involves national security. The government will provide more details on this," Supisarn said.
North Korea has been widely accused of violating United Nations sanctions by selling weapons to nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said Thailand made the seizure because of the U.N. sanctions.
"Once further details have been finalized, and all the proper checks have been made we will report all details to the United Nations sanctions committee," he said.
Police Col. Supisarn Pakdinarunart said the five men detained denied the arms possession charges and were refused bail. They will appear in court Monday.
Local press reports said Thai authorities were tipped off by their American counterparts about the cargo aboard the aircraft. U.S. Embassy spokesman Michael Turner said the embassy would not comment on the incident.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said it would take several days to obtain details on the incident, which would be reported to the United Nations, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
"People should not be alarmed because the government will ensure that the investigation will be carried out transparently. The government will be able to explain the situation to foreign countries," Suthep said.
Thai authorities said the weapons were moved by trucks amid high security Saturday night from the airport to a military base in the nearby province of Nakhon Sawan.
Baek Seung-joo of the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said the seizure demonstrated a U.S. intention to continue to enforce sanctions on the North while also engaging in dialogue.
Arms sales are a key source of hard currency for the impoverished North. Baek said the North is believed to have earned hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other weapons to countries like Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
In August, the United Arab Emirates seized a Bahamas-flagged cargo ship bound for Iran with a cache of banned rocket-propelled grenades and other arms from North Korea, the first seizure since sanctions against North Korea were ramped up.
------------------
Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

 

[postnew]

U.S. Says it Respects Thai Decision to Deport N. Korea Arms Crew
February 12, 2010

By Daniel Ten Kate

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. said it respects yesterday’s decision by Thai prosecutors to deport the five- member crew of a plane carrying weapons from North Korea that was seized in Bangkok two months ago.

“This is a matter for the Thai Attorney-General’s office to decide and we respect the independence of Thailand’s system,” Cynthia A. Brown, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, said by phone.
The U.S. “commends” Thailand for implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874, she added. Thai authorities seized the plan under the U.S.-backed resolution, which was passed in June 2009 to punish Kim Jong Il’s regime for firing a long-range missile and testing a second nuclear bomb.
The crew, including four men from Kazakhstan and another from Belarus, is waiting for documents to be cleared before being deported in the next few days, Pongdej Chaiprawat, immigration chief at Bangkok’s main international airport, said by phone today.

 

[postnew]

Five fly home in cloud of mystery
(AP)
BANGKOK — Thailand on Friday deported members of a foreign plane crew accused of smuggling arms from North Korea, a day after prosecutors dropped all charges against them.

The five crew members, from Kazakhstan and Belarus, were escorted to Bangkok's Suvannabhumi airport by at least a dozen police, and left in the early evening on an Air Astana flight for Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The five were arrested Dec. 12 when the Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane they were flying from the North Korean capital Pyongyang landed in Bangkok. Thai authorities, acting on a tip from the United States, seized the plane and 35 tons of weapons on board.
North Korea is barred under U.N. sanctions from exporting weapons.
Flight documents indicated the plane's destination was Iran, but officials there denied they were importing weapons.
Thailand's Attorney General's Office said Thursday the decision to drop charges against the Il-76 crew was made after the governments of Belarus and Kazakhstan contacted the Thai Foreign Ministry and requested the crew's release so they can be investigated at home.
"To charge them in Thailand could affect the good relationship between the countries," said Thanaphit Mollaphruek, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. "They were only here for refueling."
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said Thai authorities were still awaiting advice from the United Nations on how to dispose of the weapons.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

[postnew]

One of the plane's crew inside Bangkok criminal court last year

 

[BuiKia]

I see that the thais do not want trouble and decided to deport them instead of charging them. Smart move.

 

[Papsmearer]

I see that the thais do not want trouble and decided to deport them instead of charging them. Smart move.

They already got $35 million of free weapons, the rest is no expense, so might as well let them leave.