Thai Authorities Conduct Massive Raids Following Bomb Alert

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BANGKOK -Police and Army teams on Tuesday raided several locations in Bangkok and nearby provinces and took a number of suspects away for questioning following a bomb plot alert.

In Samut Prakan province, a man suspected of involvement in southern insurgency has been detained for questioning after a raid by police and soldiers at a condominium unit in Samut Prakan province.

Preecha Samalee, 39, from Yala province, was found in room No.34 of the condominium on Sukhumvit Road in Muang district. A large number of boxes for parcel post, mobile phone accessories, a notebook computer and three Siam Commercial Bank passbooks were also seized in the raid.

Pol Maj Gen Thamnoon Traipitthayapong, the Samut Prakan police chief, said the raid was carried out on a tip-off that Mr Preecha had been involved in the suspicious activities of a group of young men from the South who lived near Ramkhamhaeng University’s Samut Prakan campus.

Mr Preecha operated a mobile phone shop at Big C superstore, Pak Nam branch. He had sent mobile phones to the South many times. Whether the phones had been used in southern violence was being investigated, Pol Maj Gen Thamnoon said.

After the raid, military officers from the 21st Infantry Battalion took Mr Preecha to the 11th Military Circle on Rama V Road for questioning.

Pol Maj Gen Thamnoon said the raid followed an order from police chief Chakthip Chaijinda for police in all areas to watch out for bombings and sabotage of important installations and tourist spots.

Also on Tuesday, a 100-strong combined team of Wang Thong Lang and Hua Mak police, 191 special operation police, officers from counter-terrorism Arintharat 26 Unit, and troops from a military unit scoured nine targets in Hua Mak and Wang Thong Lang areas.

In a raid on Romklao Mansion apartment in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 65/1, the counter-terrorism Arintharat 26 Unit searched rooms Nos.801, 803, 805, 813 and 814 and nabbed eight people for questioning at Hua Mak police station.

Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakphan, acting commander of the 191 special operations police, said the search of Hua Mak area was an expanded action after a number of suspects had recently been arrested in Samut Prakan with 400 guns.

Pol Maj Gen Nanthachart Supamongkol, commander of Metropolitan Police Division 4, said in a raid on S.K. Apartment in Wang Thong Lang area, a number of suspects were arrested for having addictive krathom leaves in possession, but no weapons were found.

Earlier today, a team of about 30 police and military officers led by Pol Lt Gen Sanit Mahathaworn, the Metropolitan Police chief, searched Maimuna Garden Home building in Soi Rat-uthit and an auto-repair shop in Min Buri district.

No one was arrested and no weapons or other illegal items were found in the raid.

Also on Tuesday, the National Council for Peace and Order confirmed security alerts in greater Bangkok late this month and ordered checkpoints be set up and searches conducted.

Source: Bangkok Post