Bangkok: Thai authorities today said the two Lebanese men detained on suspicion of having ties with the Hezbollah militant group admitted that they arrived in Bangkok to spy on Israeli tourists.
"The men had come to Thailand to spy on Israelis," said Chalerm Yoobamrung, director of the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order.
They will be deported back to Lebanon, their last port of embarkation.
"Police had interrogated the men to find out how many people were taking part in the operation and who else was involved," said Worapong Chewprecha, Deputy National Police chief General Worapong Chewprecha.
One of the men admitted to a planned attack on Israeli tourists in Khao San Road during the weeklong spring festival Songkran which ended yesterday, an investigator was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post.
The men have been identified as French-Lebanese national Daoud Farhat and Lebanese-Filipino national Youssef Ayad.
Farhat is visiting Thailand for the first time, while this is Ayad`s 17th visit to the country.
Both arrived several days before the Songkran festival which started on April 13.
"The men were arrested at different locations in Bangkok after Thai police received intelligence report from Israel about a planned attack on Israeli tourists during Passover, the Jewish festival which coincided with Songkran," said Winai Thongsong, assistant national police chief.
The investigators also believe at least nine suspected foreign terrorists connected to Hezbollah are somewhere in Thailand. Authorities are attempting to track them down, sources were quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Ayad had said?his group entered Thailand to carry out a bomb attack against Israeli tourists and other Israeli groups on Khao San Road during Songkran, the source said.
