THAILAND: THAI MAN SUSPECTED OF BEING A BOMB-MAKER FOR MILITANT ASIAN JEMAAH ISLAMIAH NETWORK SURRENDERS TO POLICE IN BANGKOK

Record ID: 358814

  • Title: THAILAND: THAI MAN SUSPECTED OF BEING A BOMB-MAKER FOR MILITANT ASIAN JEMAAH ISLAMIAH NETWORK SURRENDERS TO POLICE IN BANGKOK
  • Date: 8th July 2003
  • Summary: (W3) BANGKOK, THAILAND (JULY 8, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SV: SUSPECT SAMARN WAEKAYEE SITTING AT NEWS CONFERENCE 0.09 2. CLOSE UP OF SAMARN 0.14 3. SV: POLICE WATCHING 0.18 4. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) SUSPECT SAMARN WAEKAYEE SAYING: "I have turned myself in to the interior ministry because I want to tell everyone I am innocent." 0.39
  • Embargoed: 23rd July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Reuters ID: LVA15H2TFSTY8E3VMBD9WJQXI06J
  • Story Text: A Thai man, suspected of being the bomb-maker for
    Islamic militants rounded up last week while plotting to
    attack Western embassies and beach resorts, has turned
    himself in.

    According to police, Samarn Waekayee surrendered
    himself to the police on Monday night (July 7) in Thailand's
    southern Yala province.

    Lieutenant-General Chumpol Manmai, head of the police
    Special Branch, described the suspect as a "hitman with
    expertise in making bombs who has disguised himself as a
    religious person".

    Samarn Waekayee, denied his involvement at a news
    conference chaired by Interior Minister Wanmuhamad Noor Matha.

    "I have turned myself in to the interior ministry because
    I want to tell everyone I am innocent," Samarn said on Tuesday
    (July 8), surrounded by police officers and reporters.

    When asked if he was involved with the militant Southeast
    Asian Jemaah Islamiah network, he said he had never been
    involved with any JI activity.

    Wanmuhamad praised Samarn's decision to hand himself in,
    and encouraged others to do the same.

    "In turning yourself in and fighting the case, you are
    showing trust in the justice process and we will treat you
    fairly", he said.

    Last month, police arrested a religious teacher, his son
    and a medical doctor and charged them with conspiring to harm
    the interests of foreign nations, attempting to assault
    dignitaries of foreign states and involvement with criminal
    syndicates.

    Authorities said the cell was planning attacks on several
    embassies in Bangkok as well as the beach resorts of Pattaya
    and Phuket.

    They said the men had confessed to involvement in Jemaah
    Islamiah, a militant network officials say is trying to set up
    an Islamic state in Southeast Asia and which has been blamed
    for carrying out last year's Bali bomb blasts that killed more
    than 200 people.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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