6,000 guns and explosives stolen from barracks

Just when I thought things might be getting a bit boring around here, something like this pops up. The local civil unrest just got a little more lively!! Yes, that's 6,000 full auto assault rifles and an undisclosed amount of explosives unaccounted for. In a country where personal ownership of firearms is nearly unheard of unless you are in law enforcement, that's a very staggering total. Needless to say, the current "civil" uprising may not be civil for long. Several foreign governments issued travel warnings for this area a few weeks ago, and we all dismissed it as media hype. Maybe they knew something we didn't. People here can be a little hot headed when it comes to politics, and adding a few thousand AK-47's into the mix should make things interesting. The latest bank bombing in Bangkok was only about a week ago, but there were no injuries. This could make things a little more up close and personal. If the "red shirts" do in fact have them, I'll be glad to be deep in friendly territory. If the insurgents down south have them, I'll be staying as far north as I can. The full story is below.

BANGKOK: -- Acting Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn confirmed on Sunday that an urgent investigation was being conducted into “a massive loss of weapons and explosives” from an army base in the southern province of Phattalung.

According to Mr Panitan, a police report was filed last Thursday and investigators are attempting to determine whether the weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents in the south, or the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), aka the red-shirts, who plan to hold its million man march and rally commencing this Friday, March 12, in an attempt to oust the government.

Informed sources claim about 6,000 assault rifles and a large amount of explosives were taken from Engineering Regiment 401, part of the Fourth Army Region, in Phatthalung Province, and the theft was only discovered on Tuesday.

Mr. Panitan said the investigation was focusing on the possibility the theft was “an inside job” and that since the loss, security at other army weapons warehouses, especially in Bangkok, has been tightened.

The revelation of the theft follows comments yesterday by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that recent intelligence reports had pointed to the possibility of sabotage taking place on March 14.

Mr. Abhisit said that the government's Security-Related Situation Monitoring Committee had received information that acts of sabotage aimed at creating chaos were being planned by red-shirt sympathisers.

When questioned about the matter, Army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the Army had no such intelligence.

Sean Boonpracong, international media spokesman for the UDD, said protesters coming to Bangkok on March 12 are being repeatedly told not to bring weapons to the rally and UDD security personnel will be checking people for weapons prior to and during the rally.

“We’re constantly stressing to people that the only “weapon” they should bring is a camera to photograph anything that the government might instigate and to photograph the checkpoints along their route.

“If UDD security personnel detect anyone with weapons then that person will be handed over to government security agents”, Mr. Boonpracong said.