Cambodia returns suspects in Bangkok bomb attempt

Cambodia on Monday deported two suspected members of the anti-government "Red Shirt" movement to Thailand, where they are accused of involvement in an attempted bomb attack in Bangkok last month.

 

Kobchai Boonplod and Varissareeya Boonsom, both 43, were handed over to Thai officials at Phnom Penh International Airport and put on a plane back to Thailand, where police said they denied orchestrating the blast.

 

 

 

A Thai woman identified as Varisareeya Boonsom is escorted by Cambodian military police officers at Phnom Penh international airport.

 

The two Thais were arrested Saturday in Cambodia's northwestern Siem Reap province over an attempted bombing at the Bangkok headquarters of the Bhumjaithai party, part of the Thai government coalition, on June 22.

 

As she was escorted to the plane, a tearful Varissareeya told reporters that sending her back to Thailand meant that "I am going to die".

 

The pair were taken for questioning by police after arriving back in Bangkok.

 

Lieutenant General Aswin Kwanmuang, Thai assistant national police chief, said the suspects had denied masterminding the attack, which apparently failed after a makeshift bomb hidden in a fruit cart detonated prematurely.

 

"They said they know nothing. They didn't know a bomb would be planted," he told a news conference.

 

"The pair received 5,000 baht (150 dollars) and were told to buy fruit because people who gave them money wanted to sell fruit, and they did it."

 

The incident followed two months of protests by the Red Shirts in Bangkok, which sparked outbreaks of violence that left 90 people dead and nearly 1,900 hurt.

 

It came as the authorities were considering whether to extend a state of emergency in place across about a third of the country.

 

Government officials have since indicated they are likely to lift emergency rule in many areas, but not Bangkok, saying the situation remains unstable in the capital.

 

The Red Shirts, whose rally ended with a bloody army crackdown on May 19, were campaigning for elections they hoped would oust a government they view as elitist and undemocratic.

 

Cambodia's willingness to send the suspects back to Thailand could be seen as an attempt at thawing ties with its neighbour, with which it has a history of rocky relations, including border disputes.

 

Both countries recalled their ambassadors last November after Phnom Penh appointed fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra - the Red Shirts' hero - as economic adviser and then refused to extradite him.

 

Cambodia's decision to apprehend the suspects without a request was taken in "the spirit of combating ... terrorists," Long Visalo, secretary of state at the foreign ministry, told the Thai officials at the handover.

 

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva thanked Cambodia for returning the suspects.

 

"We will seek further cooperation" with Phnom Penh, he said.

 

AFP/de