Possible Bangkok bomb plots prompt police to step up security

Possible #Bangkok bomb plots prompt police to step up security
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Police said today that they have increased security at major landmarks in Bangkok, as well as at airports and in surrounding provinces, following reports of bomb plots just weeks after deadly attacks rocked the country's south.
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An armed group was plotting car bomb attacks in a province near Bangkok, Thailand's national security head said.
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"The Deputy Prime Minister instructed security agencies closely track and monitor anything unusual including things used to prepare bombs and cars," Thawip Netniyom, chief of Thailand's National Security Council, told reporters.
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"Why target Bangkok? They probably want to make an impact," he said, without giving details on which groups could be behind the plot.
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The Thai media specifically reported that the group might be plotting a car bomb between Oct. 25-30 in Bangkok, according to Pol. Gen. Sriwara Ransibrahmanakul, Deputy Commander of the Royal Thai Police.
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Pol. Gen. Sriwara said that he has instructed the local police to inspect any suspicious vehicles and tighten security at tourist attractions, embassies, and symbolic venues, reported Nation TV.
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Always a popular tourist destination Thailand suffered a series of bomb attacks in the country's south over the past few weeks, including a wave of bombs in tourist towns between Aug. 11-12 that killed four Thai people and injured dozens more, including foreigners.
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Police have linked the attacks to Muslim separatists operating in Thailand's far south.
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Security chief Thawip said he was not sure whether the planned car bombs and the August attacks were related.
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Thailand's tourism industry, which accounts for 10 percent of gross domestic product, has weathered more than a decade of unrest including two military coups and the recent bombings.
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Britain's Foreign Office, as well as several others, advised travelers to exercise caution following the August bombings.
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"You should exercise caution, particularly in public places. Further incidents are possible in these and other areas of Thailand," the Foreign Office said.
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In August 2015, a bomb ripped through Erawan Shrine, a religious landmark in central Bangkok killing 20 people, most of them tourists. But the attack failed to dent tourist arrivals to any discernible degree.
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wo ethnic Uighur Muslims from China are on trial in Thailand after being accused of carrying out the attack.
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Analysts and diplomats suspected the attack was linked to Uighur sympathizers angered by Thailand's deportation of more than 100 Uighurs to China the previous month.
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Bangkok is currently playing host to a regional meeting attended by some world and business leaders.
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Police said they were on high alert.
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"I have ordered all police under my supervision in the area around Bangkok to monitor news, investigate and gather intelligence on groups who could come in and cause trouble," said Police Lieutenant General Charnthep Sesawet, acting chief of Provincial Police Region 1, which oversees areas around the capital.
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Story: Reuters/ Nation TV / Coconuts.co

 

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Car slams into Erawan Shrine, 6 injured (+VIDEO)

.Six people were injured last night when a driver had a seizure and her car plowed into the Erawan Shrine at Ratchaprasong intersection, a year after the Hindu shrine was hit by a fatal bomb.
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The light blue sedan veered off of Rama I Road in the middle of the city at about 8:20pm and slammed through a gate onto the grounds of Erawan Shrine, the site of a bombing in August 2015 that left 20 dead and scores injured.
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"It was an accident," Lumpini police commander Pornchai Chalodet told AFP of the car crash.
This afternoon, Post Today revealed the names of the injured people. They are two Singaporeans, two Indonesians, one Thai, and one Chinese.
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The two indonesians injured were Janto Kuriawan, 73, and Rosita Kuriawan, 56. The Singaporeans were Ong Cney, 70, and Ng Ican Leng, 35. The Chinese woman was Leena Bong, 81, and the Thai woman was Kanuengjit Taecholarn, 55.
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The shrine, a popular stop for East Asian tourists, was thronged with worshippers at the time of the accident, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
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"We were praying and then suddenly we heard a big noise and we saw a car coming inside. We ran like crazy. It was very scary. At I first thought it was a car bomb but everyone was very calm around us," Kristy, a 21-year-old tourist from Vietnam, told AFP.
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In Friday's incident, police said the driver, who appeared to be about 40 years old, lost control of her Toyota Soluna and crashed through the sidewalk fence at the intersection beside the shrine before passing through the Erawan gate and stopping just before hitting the shrine.
The identity of the driver has not been revealed at the time of publication. The local media reported that she is currently receiving treatment in the intensive care unit.
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Also accompanying the driver in the car was her 20-year-old daughter, who told police her mom did not have a history of epilepsy. She had the seizure while she was about to take a turn at Ratchaprasong intersection.
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.Police will charge the driver with reckless driving leading to injuries of other people and will take the her medical diagnosis into consideration.
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VIDEO

Source: Coconuts.co 

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Thai police have broken up a major fake passport ring

Some of the counterfeit passports.

 Cops smash fake passport ring headed by Iranian master forger.

 Thai police have broken up a major fake passport ring led by an Iranian known as "The Doctor" which sent thousands of passports to Middle Eastern customers trying to enter Europe, officers said today.

The kingdom has long been a hub for a forged document industry serving human traffickers and other criminals.

Five years of investigation culminated in Monday's arrest of the alleged Iranian mastermind Hamid Reza Jafary, police said.

The 48-year-old had for many years been crafting sophisticated forgeries from his home in Chachoengsao province east of Bangkok, they said.

"He (Jafary) produced passports for people from countries including Iran, Syria and Afghanistan who were escaping wars and wanted to enter Europe," said immigration police commander Lieutenant General Nathathorn Prousoontorn.

Clients emailed "The Doctor" their photos and specified the country for which they wanted a passport, the commander said, adding he guaranteed customers they would not be detected by border officials.

The forged documents were then sent via private courier companies.

It was not immediately clear if "The Doctor" provided passports to people fleeing to Europe during the current migrant crisis.

"He himself used six different passports — three from Brazil, and one from each of Peru, Portugal and New Zealand. He was wanted by security agencies in many countries, especially the EU and Japan," Nathathorn added.

Jafary's fake passports were the "best quality in the market", an immigration officer who asked not to be named told AFP.

But he could not fake the latest microchipped travel documents, police added.

Five Pakistani middlemen were also arrested in raids in and around Bangkok for assisting the forgery ring, which allegedly shipped passports to overseas clients for up to THB 80,000.

Some of the nearly 200 travel documents found in a Monday raid on Jafary's home were completely forged, while others had been stolen from tourists and doctored, police said.

The raid also uncovered a laser engraving machine, rolls of thin leather for passport covers and metal stamps from various countries.

Thousands of passports are reported missing annually in Thailand, where forged documents of every variety can be purchased on the streets.

The flourishing market has helped establish Thailand as a hub for human traffickers and smugglers.

Two Uighur men awaiting trial for planting a deadly bomb in Bangkok last August have also been accused by police of running a crime group that helped illegal migrants obtain counterfeit documents.

The pair are currently being held in a military prison.

In 2014 the spotlight also swung onto the Thai-based trade when two mystery passengers boarded the doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 using European passports stolen in Thailand.

In 2010 Thai authorities took part in an international police sting that saw two Pakistanis and a Thai woman arrested in Thailand for providing fake passports to groups behind global terror attacks.

Story: AFP

Source: Coconuts 

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