Karun denies charges over seizure of airports
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Yellow-shirt leader Karun Sai-ngam has denied all police charges against him in connection with the seizure of two Bangkok airports in 2008, police said yesterday.
Police had completed questioning Karun, who was arrested after a 24-hour drama, and he denied all the charges, according to chief investigator, Pol General Somyot Pumpanmuang.
Somyot said Karun would be released temporarily after he was formally informed about the charges he faces. Police would then submit an investigation report to public prosecutors for further action, he said.
Somyot said Karun was the last of 46 people involved with the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who are accused of seizing Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports in November 2008.
But Buri Ram police also accuse Karun of resisting arrest, he noted.
On Sunday, Karun defied arrest by police in his home province of Buri Ram. He sat defiantly in his pickup truck as police hauled him and his vehicle for over 300 kilometres from the northeastern province to the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok. Police later got a lock expert to open a door of the vehicle so they could arrest him.
Meanwhile, Pongniwat Yuthapanboripan, director-general of the Attorney-General Office’s Department of Criminal Litigation, said yesterday public prosecutors were studying police investigation reports on 114 PAD leaders allegedly involved in the airports’ seizure. Prosecutors were waiting for reports from police on extra charges against 10 yellow-shirt leaders, including Karun, he said.
