From: kamol@ipied.tu.ac.TH (Kamol Hengkietisak)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: Bangkok Post Dec 29: Securities tightened
Date: 5 Jan 1993 19:28:12 +1100
Organization: Mail/News gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: munnari.oz.au

 
THE Police Department has set up a special intelligence centre and 
rapid deployment units as part of a nationwide security beef-up 
for the public following the bombing of a Thon Buri bus terminal 
which killed five people.
 
National Police Chief Gen Sawat Amornvivat said the intelligence 
centre, to be headed by assistant police chief Lt-Gen Chumpol 
Attasart, v ll coordinate with responsible police units to gather 
intelligence information.
 
The emphasis, however, will be placed on the sending of rapid 
deployment units to search individuals, vehicles and 
establishments suspected of involvement in subversive activities 
or becoming potential targets, Pol Gen Sawat said.
 
Metropolitan, Provincial, Highways, Crime Suppression Division, 
Immigration police units and the Interpol will join the special 
intelligence centre to map out the security measures by supplying 
it with intelligence information about the movements of various 
groups.
 
Searches may be conducted on board public buses or at shopping 
centres as part of the new security measures, he said, adding that 
public cooperation will certainly enhance the effectiveness of the 
plan.
 
The security beef-up was ordered after a top-level security 
meeting chaired by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai at Government 
House yesterday.
 
Present at the meeting at Government House were Interior Minister 
Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Defence Minister Gen Vijit Sookmark, 
National Security Council Secretary-General Charun Kullavanijaya, 
Police Director-General Sawat Amornvivat, Special Branch 
Commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Pibul Kullavanijaya, Interior Permanent 
Secretary Anant Anantakul and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pol 
Lt-Gen Chamlong Iamjaengpant.
 
Emerging from the meeting, Gen Chavalit said the Prime Minister 
called the meeting to discuss the bomb blast at a bus terminal in 
Thon Buri last week which killed five people.
 
He said the meeting was quite useful because it would encourage 
cooperation and coordination among government units concerned to 
deal with the security problem.
 
The prime minister, he added, wanted responsible officials to 
adopt measures that would safeguard the public.
 
Regarding last week's bomb blast, Gen Chavalit said there were two 
main assumptions -- that the incident was either an ordinary act 
of sabotage or a politically-motivated act.
 
The minister stressed the importance of public cooperation to act 
as "eyes and ears" of the officials in the fight against bomb 
blasts.
 
He said he didn't want to jump to any conclusion that the bomb 
explosion was meant to discredit him.
 
Asked about the progress of the police investigation into the bomb 
attack, Gen Chavalit said that the probe was still going on.
 
Meanwhile Defence Minister Gen Vijit Sookmark said the military 
was ready to cooperate with police to provide security at shopping 
malls in Bangkok during the festive season.
 
It was reported that the interior minister had ordered police to 
step up security at Don Muang airport, bus terminals, railway 
stations and shopping malls in Bangkok.
 
The bomb explosion was suspected by police to be perpetrated by 
members of the outlawed Pattani United Liberation Organisation 
(PULO). But this was doubted by the Interior Ministry which 
suspected that it might be the work of some elements associated 
with those who used to be in power.
 
Informed Interior Ministry sources said the bomb was triggered by 
a C-4 plastic charge which was not available to the separatist 
bandits. Besides, the bandits rarely carried out terrorist 
activities outside their territories of operations and the Yawi 
language which appeared on a leaflet found at the explosion site 
was incorrect, said the sources, reflecting the opinion held by 
several senior interior officials.
 
Police Chief Gen Sawat said the nature of the bomb attack was far 
different from that committed by the PULO.
 
Investigators are trying to verify the documents found on board 
the bus to determine if they belonged to the separatists.
 
"We have to be very thorough before deciding whether the documents 
are related to the bombing incident, or else the case will be 
distorted," he said.
 
Pol Gen Sawat commented that the bus terminal bombing incident was 
different from the Hat Yai railway station bomb attack earlier 
this year as the latter was not intended to cause deaths.
 
The bus terminal bombing was cruel in nature as it was aimed at 
killing, judging from the finding that the bomb was placed in a 
bag stuffed with concrete nails.
 
Army Chief Vimol Wongwanich denied yesterday that the Thon Buri 
bus terminal bombing incident last Wednesday was the work of 
soldiers.
 
"Soldiers did not have any part in it. It's not the work of 
soldiers," Gen Vimol said.
 
He said there were a lot of people with the knowledge to make this 
kind of a bomb.
 
"Don't assume that it was the work of soldiers," Gen Vimol said.
 
Asked for his comment on the ongoing attempts by certain groups of 
people to create confusion in the country, Gen Vimol said he had 
no knowledge about them.
 
"If I had the knowledge about it, some arrests would have been 
made," he said.