A Chinese man is being held for intensive questioning after police found a large cache of war weapons in his rented house in Huai Yai sub-district of Chon Buri province yesterday.
Police erected a 100-metre cordon around the house as an Explosives Ordnance Disposal unit cautiously combed the premises for hidden explosives.
The seizure of the war weapons follows a road accident in Sattahip district on the same day, involving a car driven by the Chinese suspect, identified as 31-year-old Ming Chen San, with a Chinese woman whose identity was not disclosed.
Police found a gun with some loaded magazines in his car, which led to the raid on his rented house in Huai Yai sub-district, Bang Lamung district.
Police were shocked when they found a large cache of weapons in the possession of the suspect.
They included two M4 carbines with 13 fully-loaded magazines, ten hand grenades, two Glock26 pistols, one pack of C4 high-powered explosive weighing about 2.4kg, two sticks of dynamite, four Soviet-designed POMZ-2 stake-mounted anti-personnel landmines, several electric blasting caps, two gas masks, armored vests and four 20-litre cans of benzine.
Police also found a video clip in the suspect’s cellphone, showing him practicing shooting in a camp of Cambodian BHQ troops, as well as conversations via ChatGPT discussing about bomb attacks at important locations and the destructive nature of C4 explosives.
Pol Maj-Gen Pongpan Wongmaneeted, commander of Chon Buri Provincial Police, told the media today that police investigators have not yet found any connections between the Chinese suspect and anyone else.
He added that a psychiatrist will be asked to assess the suspect’s health after he claimed that he is suffering from depression.
He disclosed that several police and security units are now involved in the investigation, after the national police chief, Pol Gen Kitrat Phanphet, had ordered a full investigation of the case to cover all aspects, including the possibility of suicide bombing in the making.
He said that the Chinese embassy in Bangkok had already been asked to send an official to help in the investigation.
According to police findings, the Chinese suspect first entered Thailand in 2020 using a tourist visa and has been in and out of the country several times. He last arrived in Thailand on January 27 this year using a long-stay immigrant visa which is valid for five years.
The suspect has Chinese and Cambodian passports and a Thai ID card, No 6-1046-00003-XX-X with household residence in Chiang Dao district of Chiang Mai.
