Suthep: Karun's arrest not provocative

03 Feb, 2011
Source: Bangkok Post

The arrest of Karun Sai-ngam, a former senator and core member of the Thai Patriots Network, should not fan the ongoing protest by TPN demonstrators near Government House, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on Thursday.

Mr Suthep said Mr Karun was arrested under an old warrant in connection with the People's Alliance for Democracy's (PAD) blockade of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports in late 2008.

Mr Karun was apprehended by Crime Suppression Division police late Wednesday night at the Suvarnabhumi airport on his return from Cambodia.

Most of the other suspects in this case had earlier surrendered to fight charges levelled against them. Seven had not, including Mr Karun. Mr Karun was subject to arrest under that warrant, he said.

Mr Suthep hoped the TPN protesters would not take this matter as a reason to step up their pressure for the government to take action to bring home TPN coordinator Veera Somkwamkid and his secretary Ratree Pipatanapaiboon, who were sentenced to eight and six years in jail respectively by a Cambodian court for espionage.

The deputy prime minister said he did not understand why the PAD had set a Feb 5 deadline for the government to bring home the two convicts.

"Instead of putting up the pressure, the PAD should come and offer advice about what should be done to secure the release of the two activists," Mr Suthep said.

He insisted that the government had done what it could to help them and the public was aware of this.

On Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya's trip to attend the 7th Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission meeting for bilateral cooperation in Siem Reap today, Mr Suthep said he believed Mr Kasit, who was well-versed in the current situation, would be able to convey a message to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that Thailand wants peace, not war.

Asked whether the metropolitan police's crowd control drill with real tear gas canisters was intended to send a signal that the protesters would be dispersed, Mr Suthep said the police were only making themselves fully prepared because they are duty-bound to protect a number of important places including Government House, parliament, the Foreign Ministry and the Cambodian embassy.