Ex-policeman gets 38 years for firing rocket at Defence Ministry

Pol Lance Corporal Banthit Sitthithoom, 44, who used to be attached to the Wang Nam Yen Police Station, was convicted of five counts in connection with launching a rocket-propelled grenade at the Defence Ministry on the night of March 20 last year.

Public prosecutors said the attack by Banthit and his accomplice, who is still on the run, wounded Sak Harnsongkram and smashed a telephone cable belonging to TOT Plc.

The rocket strike was staged to try to force the government to dissolve the House but it sowed terror and confusion among the public and also supported the terror tactics of the United Front fro Democracy against Dictatorship, they said.

Police seized an RPG launcher, three M67 grenades and a machine gun with 48 rounds of ammunition from Banthit, they added.

In its verdict, the Criminal Court cited prosecution witnesses who met and talked to Banthit outside the Defence Ministry shortly before the attack and could clearly recall his face because the area was well lit.

The court said another witness saw Banthit jumping out of his Toyota pickup truck after it sped up to the spot and hit something, breaking its left side mirror.

Investigators found Banthit’s handprints on the abandoned pickup and a jacket with traces of his DNA left inside.

The court was convinced the pickup was used in the bomb attack because it was caught by a security camera racing up to the spot where the attack occurred and a flash was seen coming from the truck.

Investigators also found traces of gunpowder in the truck so it was believed that the rocket was launched from the truck.

Of Banthit’s 38-year jail term, two years were for using forged official documents, 20 years for launching a bomb attack, five years for possessing explosives, five years for possessing a grenade launcher, five years for possessing a gun and one year for carrying illegal firearms in public.