A large cache of military-grade weapons were found in Bangkok Monday amid police suspicions that the hand grenades, bullets and other munitions were linked to political violence before the coup.
Police and solders inspect weapons found on Monday in an unoccupied plot of land on Kanchanaphisek road in Klong Sam Wa district. (Photo by Apichit Jinakul)
Police from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit and Kannayao station and soldiers collected 30 Soviet-made RDG-5 hand grenades in two boxes, 21 rocket-propelled grenades and almost 2,000 AK-class bullets after a vendor discovered them dumped on a deserted side of outbound Kanchanaphisek road in Khlong Sam Wa district.
The weapons were moved to the Metropolitan Police Bureau and later sent to the EOD office for inspection.
Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Ruangsak Jaritek said the weapons could be linked to political violence in Bangkok while the People's Democratic Reform Committee held Bangkok's streets to oust the government of then-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
MPB commissioner Sriwara Rangsiprammanakul said the weapons may have been dumped six months ago and could be part of the same lot police found on June 19 in the same area.
Police found two launchers with six RPG grenades, two AK rifles with more than 200 bullets, and 26 RDG grenades about three kilometres from Monday's location in the same district.
Pol Lt Gen Sriwara said the hand grenades found on Monday were the same type used at least in 10 cases during the violence in the capital early this year.
He suspected that the weapons could have been possessed by the same persons arrested in Ayutthaya in June after police found military-grade weapons there.
Police raided a house in Wang Noi district of Ayutthaya on June 17 and found one M79 launcher and 75 grenades.
The Crime Suppression Division later laid charges against seven suspects for possession of military-grade weapons after the raid in Wang Noi.
One of the suspects was former deputy commander of the Third Army Region Lt Gen Manas Paorik, who was thought to have supplied weapons to the so-called "men in black."