Thais probe destination for seized NKorean weapons

[unhappycamper]

Thais probe destination for seized NKorean weapons
By JOCELYN GECKER
Associated Press Writer
Dec 15, 1:02 AM EST

BANGKOK (AP) -- Thai authorities focused Tuesday on the mammoth task of inspecting 35 tons of weapons seized from a cargo plane loaded in North Korea, as details of the aircraft's alleged shady past emerged but its ultimate destination remained a mystery.

More than 100 police and military experts planned an in-depth analysis of the 145 boxes and crates unloaded from the Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane, which was impounded Saturday during what authorities called a scheduled refueling stop in Bangkok.

Police Col. Supisarn Bhakdinarinath, head of the police inspection team, said results were not expected to be made public for several days. An initial review found explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, components for surface-to-air missiles and other armaments, all of which were moved under high security to an Air Force base in the nearby province of Nakhon Sawan.

"Our objective is to identify in detail the arms and weapons we found, to determine their type, their source of production, their destructive potential, how dangerous they are to people and the laws that apply" to transporting them, Supisarn said.

The five-man crew - four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus - were denied bail Monday and ordered held for an extendable period of 12 days. Charged with illegal arms possession, they face up to 10 years in prison but the charge and penalty could change depending on what inspectors find, he said.


Rest of Stripes article at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_THAILAND_WEAPONS?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-12-15-01-02-06