PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN — Explosive materials including TNT, C4 and ammunition were found near the venue in Hua Hin for the government’s first mobile cabinet meeting on Friday and Saturday.
The cache was found in a forested area reserved for a tree planting project on Phetchakasem Road between Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin and the Army Non-Commissioned Officer School. The area is about two kilometres from the army’s Suanson Pradipat Rehabilitation and Recreation Centre where the government will hold its first mobile cabinet meeting later this month.
A Cambodian fisherman reportedly discovered the cache in seven sacks and reported it to the 191 emergency call centre on Sunday evening.
An explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) police team from Naresuan camp in adjacent Phetchaburi province inspected the cache and said all of the explosive components were in good condition but posed no harm because the electrical circuits had not been connected. The material was found in two military ammunition boxes.
The seized items inckuded 49 sticks of TNT weighing between four ounces and one pound (113 to 456 grammes), four quarter-pound (113 grammes) blocks of C4, 20 incendiary grenades, 12 tear gas grenades and two tactical smoke grenades, along with more than 100 metres of detonating cord and other detonation equipment and explosive components.
Security officers are investigating the source of the explosive materials and have not yet linked the cache to the cabinet meeting next week.
It was initially assumed that the weaponry may have been discarded by an individual or group who feared the crackdown on influential figures and wanted to avoid arrest, local media reported.
