Arms cache linked to man on bus

Footage from security cameras at a bay where buses from Nakhon Ratchasima pull in had not detected any suspect, but the driver of bus number 22-77 said a 175 cm tall man wearing a black jacket could be of interest. Eyewitnesses based in Nakhon Ratchasima later told police that a man dragged the bag containing the items to place it near the bus before he bought a ticket.

Pol Colonel Naphat Jullabussapa speculated that the war weapons were active and could have been issued to military or police units. He said they may have been for delivery to buyers and could have been connected to the armed insurgency in the deep South. The courier's behaviour was not composed and it may suggest he was a new hand at the arms trade movement, he added.

The first man, also standing at around 175 and having curly hair, later met with a man wearing a short-sleeved plaid shirt, who later left. The first man told bus conductors to place the bag in the bus' internal compartment, before he boarded the vehicle and sat in Seat 8D. Police said they would work out a sketch of this man relying on eyewitnesses' accounts and later seek a court warrant based on the sketch.

The bus number 22-77 broke down at a monument off Vibhavadi Rangsit near Don Mueang airport, and another bus numbered 21-124, belonging to Ratchasima Tours, picked the man up along with a few other passengers, police said. The man did not show up at the Mor Chit terminal, as he may have got off along the way with other passengers, police say, leaving the weapons-stuffed bag on the first bus.

The weapons items were an AK-47 assault rifle with two fully-loaded magazines and other munitions, 12 hand grenades of various types and an anti-personnel mine.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said there were a large number of weapons left over from wars in Vietnam and Cambodia at large in Thailand, and Sunday's uncovering may have been a part of them.