From: Nhan Tran <tran@peora.sdc.ccur.com>
Subject: NEWS/VN: Vietnamese-born American says he had plan to bomb VN
Originator: daemon@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Reply-To: tran@peora.sdc.ccur.com
Organization: SCV Relay
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 15:58:30 GMT


09/28

Vietnamese-born American says he had plan to bomb Vietnam

	BANGKOK, Thailand (UPI) -- A former pilot in the South Vietnamese air
force may have attempted to steal a Royal Thai Air Force jetfighter
before hijacking an Air Vietnam airliner from which he dropped anti-
communist leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City.
	Authorities are investigating a claim made in a letter by Capt. Ly
Tong, a former pilot in the air force of the erstwhile South Vietnam and
now an American citizen, that he infiltrated a Thai air base with the
intention of stealing a combat aircraft to drop bombs and leaflets over
Vietnam.
	They believe Ly Tung may be the same man who later hijacked an Air
Vietnam flight on Sept. 4 and showered anti-communist leaflets on Ho Chi
Minh City, formerly Saigon, in southern Vietnam, before being captured
by Vietnamese security forces.
	The Bangkok Post newspaper said Monday it had a copy of a letter
dated Sept. 4 from Ly Tong to the commander of the Air Wing 21 Royal
Thai Air Force Base in the northeast city of Ubon Ratchathani.
	In the letter, Ly Tong says he entered the air base on Sept. 1 to
steal an A-37B attack aircraft which he said he planned to use to drop
bombs and leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City.
	Ly Tong described himself as ``freedom fighter'' on a mission to rid
Vietnam of its ``communist yoke.''
	The bid apparently failed when he was unable to start the plane's
engines.
	In his letter, Ly Tong said he would ``hijack Air Vietnam's flight
850 today (Sept. 4) en route to Saigon to accomplish my mission. After
dropping leaflets and bailing out of the plane, I will stay in Saigon to
organize and lead the uprising force to overthrow the Hanoi regime as
planned.''
	A man identified by official Vietnamese media as Ly Tong hijacked Air
Vietnam's flight 850 from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City of Sept. 4. The
man scattered leaflets from the plane over Ho Chi Minh City before
parachuting out. Vietnamese security forces later arrested him on the
ground.
	The Airbus 310 landed safely and no one on board was injured.
	The Post said officers at the Air Wing 21 base had launched an
investigation into whether an intrusion took place at the base early on
Sept. 1. It quoted base commander Group Capt. Chuchart Chuanchom as
saying there was an ``authorized attempt'' by an unidentified person to
start the engine of an A-37B aircraft on that date.
	The newspaper also said staff at a hotel in Ubon Ratchathani
confirmed that Ly Tong had stayed there from Aug. 20 to Aug. 31.
	The Bangkok Post said Capt. Ly Tong's A-37 jet was shot down by a
Soviet missile over Vietnam in 1975 near the end of the war between the
communist north and U.S.-backed south.
	It said he was tortured by his North Vietnamese captors, but later
escaped by trekking through Southeast Asia in a journey that took two
years.
	Ly Tong later fled to the United States as a refugee and became an
American citizen.

From: lpham@hpldsla.sid.hp.com (Leslie Pham)
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 20:36:36 GMT
Subject: Ti`m Hie^?u.............
Organization: HP Scientific Instruments Division - Palo Alto, CA