Possible accomplices in Yala bus torching quizzed
Two suspects with possible links to Sunday’s torching of a Bangkok-bound bus in Yala by armed militants are being questioned by the 41st Ranger Forces Regiment, according to a police source.
The source said on Tuesday that one suspect owned the petrol shop where the attackers were believed to have assembled and the other was a woman who allegedly brought them a change of clothing.
No one was injured in the attack in Yala’s Bannang Sata district. The gang ordered the driver and all passengers off the bus before setting it alight.
Yala police chief Pol Major General Kritsada Kaewchandee meanwhile said he suspected that leaflets found in Bannang Sata on Monday evening – demanding a “protection fee” from public-transport operators using Highway 410 (Yala-Betong Road) – were the work of “opportunists”.
Police examining the leaflets printed in Thai and allegedly signed “Fatoni warriors” had collected DNA samples capable of identifying the makers, Kritsada said.
He said police, soldiers and administrative officials would beef up security ahead of and during New Year celebrations.
For taxi drivers in the Talad Seri area in urban Nakhon Yala, it was business as usual on Tuesday. Several who were interviewed said they’d heard nothing about the leaflets.
Cab driver Budiman Jehtahe said he and about 40 others would keep working. They’d been doing this for more than 20 years and lots of people still needed to get to Betong.
“I’m confident about travelling on that route,” he said of the road where the coach was torched. “The authorities are keeping it secure. Some spots are rather isolated, though, so they should be paying more attention there.”