SAMUT SAKHON - Soldiers seized a small arsenal of firearms, ammunition and explosives from the dormitory room of a 44-year-old woman on Wednesday morning. Two red-shirt membership cards were also found in the room.
In Lop Buri a former army ranger was detained along with a cache of guns, ammunition and many improvised explosive devices he admitted were destined for Bangkok.
The Samut Sakhon weapons cache was found in a room at the NCO dormitory on Suan Luang Road in Krathum Baen district, reports said. The room was in the name of Chantana Warakornsakulkij, a Kanchanaburi native.
Inside the room the soldiers found a small arsenal that included an AK-47 equipped with a scope, an M79 grenade launcher, a machine pistol, a carbine, a pistol, eight improvised explosive devices, 12 grenades (nine of them for an M-79 launcher), a grenade launcher, 120 bottles of nitroglycerin and body armour.
About 1,200 bullets of various calibre were also confiscated.
Soldiers seized this large cache of firearms, ammunition and nitroglycerin from a woman's dormitory room in Samut Sakhon on Wednesday. (TV Pool photos)
The reports said they also found a scarf with the logo of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), a UDD membership card and a UDD security guard's card.
The suspect was detained by the military under martial law provisions.
A former army ranger was arrested with an AK assault firearm, more than a thousand bullets and many improvised bombs in Lop Buri. (Post Today photo)
In Lop Buri, a former army ranger was arrested with an AK assault firearm, more than a thousand bullets and many improvised bombs for use in Bangkok.
Pol Maj Gen Montri Yimyeam, Lop Buri police commander, said soldiers and police searched a house in Nong Muang district on Tuesday night and detained Chawawat Thongpuak, 54, a former ranger from Lop Buri.
They found an AK gun, along with 1,150 bullets of various calibre and 21 home-made explosive devices, including 11 TNT bombs, one metal pipe bomb and five plastic pipe bombs. The weapons were hidden under his bed and in a cluster of trees behind the house.
Mr Chaowawat admitted he was hired by two women in Bangkok to provide weapons and make the bombs, which were to be sent to Bangkok, Pol Maj Gen Montri said.
The suspect said he had already delivered one batch of bombs, but did not know where they were used.
The Royal Thai Army on Tuesday morning declared martial law across the country to restore order following months of anti-government protests that have left 28 people dead and hundreds wounded.