17/10/2010Bangkok PostSIEM REAP / They allegedly told investigators that they had crossed into Cambodia, stayed in a hotel and a house, and later moved to a camp for weapons training to prepare for an attack on Thailand's political leaders.
If the claims prove to be true, it would be the first time that anti-government protesters have turned to organised guerrilla tactics.
In Siem Reap, locals are aware of the reports that have rattled relations between the two countries following the claims by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).
But proof that a secret red shirt squad used the Cambodian city of Siem Reap as a training base is thin on the ground.
The Bangkok Post Sunday travelled to Siem Reap seeking out clues that the DSI may also be looking for to verify or disprove the claims.
The locals have read accounts in newspapers such as the Khmer-language Rasami Angkor and the English-language Phnom Penh Post, or heard the claims on the radio, but many are unsure whether the weapons training ever took place on Cambodian soil.
At the Angkor Hotel, where the DSI alleges some of the 11 red shirts now under detention had stayed, staff said they had not checked in a group of Thai men in the past four or five months.
Staff members said Thai visitors usually stayed at other hotels; when they did stay at the Angkor, it was usually in a big tour group.
The hotel is on National Road No 6 which cuts past the town to the Thai border in the northeast and Phnom Penh in the southwest. Along the road are mid-range and high-end hotels.
Not far from the hotel, about one kilometre to the northeast, is another hotel popular with Thai tourists, and allegedly with red shirts, called the City Angkor Hotel.
A tuk-tuk driver who parks near the hotel said he and other drivers had heard of red shirts, including some leaders, staying there. They also claimed that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had stayed at the hotel.
However, they could shed no light on whether red shirts had stayed there while undertaking weapons training.
A senior hotel staff member said he had heard about the detained red shirts, but said he knew nothing more and declined to comment further. But he did say that Thaksin stayed at the hotel ''some time ago''.
A DSI investigator who took part in the interrogation of the 11 detainees alleged that they told investigators they had splintered into smaller groups after leaving Thailand. Some said they stayed at a hotel which they simply identified as ''Angkor''.
The investigator _ who asked to remain anonymous _ said he could not confirm the exact location of the hotel or the alleged weapons training camp. He said the detainees only referred to distances and directions.
The DSI undertook the investigation after 11 men were arrested by local police on Oct 2 at Doi Ku Fah resort in Chiang Mai's Mae On sub-district.
According to the DSI, the 11 men were red shirts who had taken on different roles, ranging from guards to rescue staff, in the protests that started in March, ranging from being a guard, a rescue staff, and others.
The DSI officer said after the protests, the men were jobless and were contacted by other red shirts, including leaders of hardcore groups including the Rak Chiang Mai 51.
The men, aged from their 20s to 40s, were allegedly offered a salary of 15,000 baht plus a 500 baht daily dhallowance and were told they had to receive weapons training. They were not told what they had to do afterwards.
The DSI claimed that, in early June, they set off for their weapons training, travelling by three separate routes.
The first group went in a van to Chong Jom in Surin province and left the country. The second group gathered at Mor Chit bus station before travelling through Nakhon Ratchasima province and to Surin province before crossing the border.
The last group travelled east, passing Pattaya before leaving the country through Sra KaewSa Kaeo province. The DSI claimed none of the men passed through immigration checkpoints. They allegedly stayed in the hotel and a house for several weeks before moving to the makeshift training camp. In all, 39 received weapons training, the DSI team alleged.
The first week consisted of political indoctrination, while the second was in general knowledge of use of various weapons such as M16 rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, the DSI officer alleged. The group allegedly returned to Thailand on Aug 16 and separated, with 11 of them regrouping in Chiang Mai.
The DSI claim the men were instructed to wait for an operation against either a person or a place. They stayed at the Chiang Mai resort for almost a month without doing anything.
One of them, Kittichai Chansawat, could not stand the regimen, so he ran away and asked for help to get back to his home in the eastern province of Prachin Buri. The police later interrogated him and learned about the group. They worked with the DSI to further interrogate them, and the men have been detained ever since.
''They were moved by the red shirt camp's beliefs about bringing back true democracy. Their men had died in the protest, and there is also another fact that the fact is that they needed to make a living, as they were jobless,'' said the DSI investigator.
Cambodia has strongly rejected DSI's claims that red shirts weapons training was conducted on their soil, saying it the DSI had fabricated the story.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is due to meet Cambodian journalists in Bangkok today to improve understanding and cooperation between the two countries, his office said.
The manager of a Siem Reap restaurant said locals did not want to get dragged into politcs and wanted a good relationship with Thai visitors. But she added the DSI allegations were ''harsh''.
''It is hard to believe that such an act has been carried out on Cambodian soil,'' she said.
