Bangkok (The Straits Times) – Thai officials are scrambling to downplay the terrorist threat in the capital, even though the US and Israel are maintaining their alerts warning citizens against travel to Thailand. Thai police yesterday pressed charges against suspected terrorist Atris Hussein. The police had initially wanted to deport Atris, who was arrested last Thursday at Suvarnabhumi airport as he was about to leave Thailand. The police were tipped off by Israeli security agencies. But after Atris, a Lebanese who reportedly holds a Swedish passport, told police about a large stash of chemicals that could be used to make explosives, which he kept in a rented house on the outskirts of Bangkok, police decided to charge him instead. Atris informed police of the 4,380kg of urea-based fertilizer and 290 liters of ammonium nitrate stored on the second floor of the shop house in Bangkok's Samut Sakhon district which he had rented for a year. The fertilizer was kept in bags labelled cat litter. Police said Atris, 47, had told them the chemicals were not for use in Thailand. “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 told reporters on Monday. He did not name any intended destination. A second suspect in what was first seen as a plot by the Lebanon-based, Iran-supported militant organization Hizbollah to bomb Israeli or American-related targets in Bangkok, is still at large. Police issued a sketch of the man, showing a clean-shaven man in his 30s or 40s, who was apparently traveling with Atris. Lebanese Broadcasting Corp has reported a statement by a Hizbollah official saying that Atris was not a member of the organization. Hizbollah is on the US blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations. The Thai episode has come at a time of heightened tension between Iran, the US and Israel, and soon after the murder of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Iran – which Teheran blames on Israel. The Hizbollah threat is not new to Thailand. Sources say Hizbollah operatives have been detected before and the threat is an “ongoing concern”. While the US and Israel still have advisories warning citizens against travel to Thailand – or to stay away from areas seen as likely targets – Thai officials are trying to downplay the threat and have expressed displeasure at the advisories. On Sunday, Defense Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapa said: “I want to ask the US to be more careful when a situation like this happens in the future… The matter has affected not only security, but also the economy.” On Monday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra declared: “The situation is under control – no problem. And I can guarantee the safety of our citizens and foreign tourists.” Two areas mentioned in the advisories are Khao San Road – a backpacker district featuring Israeli restaurants and a Chabad house or Jewish community center, and a small synagogue – and Sukhumvit Soi 22, where there is also a synagogue and a Chabad house. Wider political and economic considerations have played a role in Thailand's position, analysts say. Professor Surachart Bamrungsak from Chulalongkorn University's political science faculty was quoted in the Bangkok Post as saying: “Thailand could be drawn into conflict with Hizbollah if the group believes the kingdom is collaborating with Israel against it.” Another security analyst said the Thais are ambivalent about taking the security threat seriously while still maintaining their image as being a safe country. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/aWwmW Tags: Bombing, Hezbollah, Suspect, Thailand Section: East Asia, Latest News, Lebanon
