Bomb-making materials found in Thailand, days after Israelis warned of possible attack
Police alerted to cache by Swedish-Lebanese man arrested Friday on suspicion of being a member of the Hezbollah militant group.
By DPA Tags: HezbollahThai police on Monday found 400 boxes of bomb-making materials in a shop believed to be linked to a plot to carry out terrorist attacks.
The materials - urea and ammonium nitrate - were found packed in electric fan boxes in a building 35 kilometers south-east of Bangkok, days after the U.S. embassy warned of possible attacks on tourist sites in the capital.
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Police officers transport confiscated components that can be used for making explosives in Samut Sakhon province, on the outskirts of Bangkok, January 16, 2012. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
Police were alerted to the cache by a Swedish-Lebanese man arrested Friday on suspicion of being a member of the Hezbollah militant group.
Attis Hussein, wearing a hood to protect his identity, guided more than 100 police to the shophouse in Samut Sakhon town Monday morning.
"The suspect told us the bomb-making materials were not for terrorist attacks in Thailand, but were intended to be smuggled out of the country," national police chief Priewpan Damapong said.
It was not clear whether Hussein faces charges in Thailand or will be deported, Bangkok police commissioner Lieutenant-General Vinai Thongsong said.
Thai officials over the weekend downplayed the possibility of a successful bomb attack in Bangkok.
"We believe we can take care of it," Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Sunday.
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Thai police officers escort a Lebanese suspect in Samut Sakhon province, on the outskirts of Bangkok, January 16, 2012. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
"The situation is totally under control. The terrorist group has left," Defence Minister General Yuttisak Sasiprapa said.
Despite the high-level assurances, the U.S. embassy in Bangkok had not lifted its travel warning on Monday.
"At this point our warning remains in effect," spokesman Walter Braunohler said. "The emergency measures that were released on Friday are very much still in effect."
Ten other embassies including Australia, Canada, Germany and Israel also issued travel warnings.
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I think he's lying. You don't make bombs in one country, and then bring them somewhere else. That would be stupid. Bombs are hard to smuggle. I think they were planning attacks in Thailand. Makes me sick to think about how they use Swedish passports and Swedish citizenship to spread their terror.
One day Israel warns of a 'possible' attack. And lo and behold a few days later some chemicals are found. It's almost as if...
They were right.
I wonder how many lives were saved with this information?
What ties if any Hizbollah has got with muslim extremists in Thailand or that region.