Thai students still in detention in Lahore, pending legal procedures
Play
ALL THE five Thai students arrested in Pakistan for trying to board a plane with parts of a pistol and ammunition are still under detention there, contrary to earlier reports that four of them have been freed, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said that the Thai Embassy in Islamabad had not received confirmation about the students being released.
He said the five students were still in the custody of security officials at Lahore Airport and did not board flight TG346, which left the airport at 11.40pm on Friday and arrived in Thailand at 6.10am as reported.
Deputy Government Spokes-man Sansern Kaewkamnerd also said the Thai Embassy had not received any confirmation about the release of the five or some of them as reported in the media.
He said the Foreign Ministry is monitoring the situation and will correctly follow legal procedures. He urged the public to exercise discretion in consuming news and not to put pressure on officials of both countries regarding their work, as they have to follow the law.
Sansern also dismissed re-ports that suggested the five students had links to the Islamic State militant group of Iraq and Syria.
“We have no evidence of any links between the students and any criminal organisation, so news that there is a link between ISIS and the students is not true,” said Sansern.
The men, who had been studying at a religious school in Pakistan, were trying to catch a flight at Lahore airport on Monday night when they were arrested. They were scheduled to board a Thai Airways flight for Bangkok.
Meanwhile, a father of one of the five students has urged the government to help bring them back.
Suwan Songlong, 51, father of 18-year-old Sakkariya Songlong from Trang, said he was disappointed to know that the report of four of the five Thai students being released was false. He said he believed his son was innocent.
