Lingering question over whether Cambodia bought weapons stolen from a Thai military depot

Military officials 'involved'

September 23, 2010
The Nation
WEAPONS DEPOT THEFT

A group of military and civilian contract officials were behind the theft of rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun ammunition from a weapons depot in Lop Buri province, Army commander General Anupong Paochinda said yesterday.

He said scientifically based evidence had been collected from the scene, a depot supervised by the Army's Ordnance Department, while an investigation of on-duty personnel was ongoing.

"Initial results show that officials inside took part in the theft, with help and coordination from outsiders. The weapons allotted to all combat units are intact but the theft took part under the depot's responsibility."

The depot is charged with storing of weapons, not the unit that uses them. The storage is supervised through contracted security, not through military command. We need to look into the matter thoroughly on how security can be handled effectively through private contracting," he explained.

News reports cited different numbers of RPG rockets missing, ranging from 30 to 39. Many other media reports missed referring to 8,000 5.56-mm rounds for M-16 assault rifles and a large number of 7.62-mm bullets for the M-60 machine-gun, which are also reported missing in Army documents.

Defence Ministry permanent secretary General Aphichart Phenkitti said the weapons were possibly stolen to be sold to foreign buyers. "The theft should not have anything to do with regular bomb attacks relating to political conflict," he said, without citing evidence or references to back up his statements.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said initial reports given to him suggested the weapons were stolen to be sold "to the outside", and declined to give details when asked whether the buyers were in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, the government is expected on October 5 to review the state of emergency in seven provinces, including Bangkok - and the regulations might be lifted in some areas, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.

"The lifting of emergency rule will hinge on the security assessment report submitted by the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation," he said.