Bangkok, Sept 18: Nine Thai Police officers face investigations over allegedly supplying arms to Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebel contacts arrested in the kingdom in May, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said today. A special team will investigate claims that the officers helped supply guns and ammunition to members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been engaged in a shaky peace bid with the Sri Lankan government over the past year.
"We will investigate to find out who is behind this action," the premier told reporters. "If we find enough evidence, they will face criminal charges."
Three Sri Lankan men were nabbed in may at a hotel car park in Ranong city, some 570 kilometres south of Bangkok, with police seizing 10 nine-millimetre pistols, three 11-millimetre pistols and 45,000 rounds of ammunition.
Intelligence sources said at the time the weapons came from Bangkok and were due to be smuggled out of the country in an operation similar to several previous gun-running deals.
Deputy chief of the Central Investigation Bureau, police Major General Panupong Singhara, said he had ordered the probe into the policemen, who are from Bangkok's records division.
"There is no disciplinary order against them yet, but they will face an investigation to see whether or not they were involved with the rebels," Panupong said.
Bureau Report