Suspects in Thai PM bomb plot arrested

BANGKOK, Sept 7: All five Thai soldiers accused of plotting to blow up Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra are now in police custody, investigators said today.

A major-general and a colonel turned themselves in for questioning today and were seeking court bail over a plot which critics and the media have suggested was fabricated by the government to gain sympathy.

A sergeant and a lieutenant-colonel reported to police earlier this week and were denied bail.

Police have charged the four and a lieutenant arrested last month with attempted murder and illegal possession of explosives. The lieutenant was arrested after explosives were found in a car near Thaksin's Bangkok home.

''Sergeant Chakrit Chanthara has been providing very useful information on the case,'' police Major-General Jate Mongkolhattee told reporters. ''He pleaded guilty to all the charges,'' Jate said without elaboration.

Police say the five are linked to the Internal Security Operations Commmand (ISOC), a shadowy agency run by the military during the Cold War to eliminate communists.

The lieutenant was a driver for ISOC deputy director General Pallop Pinmanee, who was sacked by Thaksin immediately after the incident, which coincided with the start of campaigning for an October 15 general election.

Pallop proclaimed his innocence, saying he could not have been behind the plot because if he had, Thaksin would be dead.

Differing police accounts of the size, complexity and readiness of the bomb they say was found in Thawatchai's car sparked suggestions the plot had been staged to bolster Thaksin's support in the provinces.

The billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-politician called a snap election in April to counter a Bangkok-based campaign against him.

However, a boycott by the main opposition parties rendered the election inconclusive and courts later annulled it, leaving Thailand with no functioning parliament and a caretaker government unable to make major policy decisions.

Although his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party is expected to win a comfortable majority, it remains unclear whether Thaksin will become prime minister again due to the divisive campaign to remove him from office.

REUTERS