A military court in Surat Thani has approved a warrant for the arrest of a suspected insurgent linked to the August arson and bombing attacks in seven provinces.
The warrant was issued for Saree Waedamu, 31, whose registered residence is in Sungai Padi district of the southern province of Narathiwat.
He is wanted on charges of possessing military explosives, attempted arson and operating a criminal association known as ang-yee.
Mr Saree is accused of trying to start a fire at a clothing shop inside the Bang Niang Flea Market in Takua Pa district of Phangnga on Aug 10.
It the first arrest warrant in the six cases involving arson and bombings in Phangnga on Aug 10-12.
Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, a deputy police chief, filed the application for an arrest warrant with the 45th Military Circle Court in Surat Thani on Thursday morning. The court’s jurisdiction covers Phangnga.
The application was supported by images of the suspect taken from security cameras and witness accounts linking him to the crime scene.
Pol Gen Srivara said Mr Saree was only at the “operative level” of the August bombings. He was already wanted on an arrest warrant issued by the Narathiwat Provincial Court in 2006 for his role as an operative in several incidents of violence in the border province.
He was a suspect in a car bomb attack in Sungai Kolok district in June, and another car bomb outside the home of a chief police of Waeng district on Sept 2.
“Based on the ongoing investigation we can confirm that all the attacks in the seven provinces are connected. We are compiling evidence to establish links between the suspects and expect to apply for more arrest warrants soon,” Pol Gen Srivara said.
The attacks occurred in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district and the southern provinces of Trang, Phuket, Surat Thani, Phangnga, Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat, killing four people and wounding 35.
Arrest warrants were previously issued for six suspects, with three being linked to the Hua Hin attacks and each of the other three linked to attacks in Phuket, Trang and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Pol Gen Srivara said other security agencies may have had called "people of interest" in for questioning, but so far police had been able to detain only the Trang suspect identified as Abdulkordae Sa-Lae.
