Posted on 12/12/2009 8:18:03 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Thailand detains plane with weapons cache from N.Korea
Sat Dec 12, 7:06 am ET
BANGKOK (AFP) – Thai authorities have detained five people who landed in Bangkok in an east European cargo plane full of heavy weapons that originated in North Korea, officials told AFP Saturday.
The plane's pilot requested to land at Bangkok's domestic Don Mueang airport Saturday morning, said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayakorn, and on inspecting the aircraft Thai authorities found the cache.
"An eastern European airline asked to land this morning at Don Mueang airport to refuel its tank. When Thai authorities examined the aircraft they found a lot of weapons and detained up to five people," Panitan said.
Lieutenant General Thangai Prasajaksattru, commander of Thailand's Central Investigation Bureau, confirmed that five men from eastern Europe had been detained, but he did not yet know their nationalities.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
So... uh... where were these Eastern European dudes going with this stuff?
Maybe we can send those newly-armed Goldman Sachs employees to take on Pyongyang. However, I doubt that. Still, they might be interested in going to Pyongyang for a different reason: to observe the process of confiscating savings via currency revaluation. They can make some improvements and advise government accomplices to implement it on U.S. soil if it becomes necessary.
The NKs seem to favor Muslim states and terrorists but they would probably sell to anyone with money.
First, you would have to eliminate salary caps and arrest the salary czar.
AW come on now. Give the PRONK their weapons back. I would think at 37,000 Ft. (7 miles up) and over the Capital would be just right.
After all, it is a free market. If they want to play free and unimpeded, take its downside, too.
If you insists on principle, that is where it should start. Let them all unemployed and out in the street as they should have if there were no government action in 2008.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=70559
Plane heading for Lanka with weapons detained
A plane heading from North Korea to Sri Lanka with weapons onboard was detained together with its crew in Thailand today, the Thai media reported. The Thai authorities found massive numbers of the shoulder-launched missile weapon including rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), anti-aircraft SAM (surface to air missiles) and ammunition.
According to the Thai media authorities had detained five foreigners who crewed a mystery aircraft which made an emergency landing at Don Mueang and impounded 35 tonnes of heavy war weaponry that were loaded on the plane.
More than 100 Thai security personnel searched a Russian-built IL-76 military air transport bearing the designation AWG 732 when aircraft, which flew from North Korea asked permission to land at Bangkok's domestic Don Mueang airport to refill fuel.
One Belarussian and four Kazakhstani nationals who were on board were arrested.
The Thai authorities said the airplane was believed to be carrying the weapons to Sri Lanka, where a long civil war recently ended.
According to the authorities, the plane earlier arrived at Don Mueang airport once in the morning for refueling before departing for North Korea after it had loaded with the heavy weaponry and asked to refuel again at the airport at 4pm.
The move was the result of cooperation between Thai and American units as the Thai authorities were informed by the United States that the plane was carrying heavy weapons which had led to impounding of the airplane and weapons.
The five suspects were sent to Thailand's Police Crime Suppression Division for questioning while the impounded weapons were reportedly transferred in the military trucks to a depot in Nakhon Sawan.
Ping!
Gee... that sure is surprising that those Eastern European dudes would be from Belarus and Kazakhstan... /s
As a musing I see little difference in Goldman Sachs with their multitude of exotic derivatives and the Federal Reserve. Each packages goodies and caters to certain audiences, each just plays with money.
OH OH Busted it
Thailand?
We just, uh, need to be patient with the North Koreans. (sic)
Thai Ping
Thai authorities need "one to two days" to examine 35 tons of weapons seized from a cargo plane from North Korea that stopped over at a Bangkok airport for refueling, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban said Sunday.
Suthep told reporters that issue is both international and sensitive and Thai security authorities have to investigate the case carefully.
"We have to be careful because it's related to several countries, and I want to emphasize that Thailand does not have negative intention toward any country," he said.
Thai police bureau spokesman Pongsapat Pongcharoen said the crew members told police investigators who questioned them for several hours that the weapons are not related to them.
Pongsapat said the crew members were charged with possessing weapons and will be transferred to the criminal court on Monday for custody. Kazakhstan Embassy officials said the embassy wants to provide bail for the suspects.
"The court will consider bail and the process of extradition," he said.
Police sources and military officials said the weapons seized included more than 20 antiaircraft missile launchers and at least 48 antitank rocket-propelled bombs.
Thai authorities, acting on a U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution adopted in June against North Korea, seized the weapons and detained five crew members of the plane -- four Kazakhs and one Belarusian.
The crew told Thai authorities that the cargo contained spare parts, police sources said.
Thai local media reported Sunday by quoting police sources that the Belarusian pilot admitted they were hired to transport some goods from North Korea to Ukraine which was their destination.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva pledged Sunday to handle the case under U.N. resolutions and Thai law. He said the police would charge the crew members of the cargo plane with possessing undeclared items.
Abhisit said the plane belongs to the Georgian government and the next stop after Thailand was to be Sri Lanka. However, Abhisit said he was not sure if Sri Lanka is the final destination.
In July, a Panama-flagged cargo ship carrying a cargo of North Korean rocket-propelled bombs bound for Iran was detained by United Arab Emirates authorities acting on the basis of the U.N. sanctions.
And of course the geniuses in Thai Police Crime Suppression Bureau are not separating the crew to keep them from talking with each other.
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