Bomb suspect denies Hezbollah link

Bomb suspect denies Hezbollah link

A Swedish citizen of Lebanese origin on Tuesday denied links to the Hezbollah movement during his trial on charges of breaking Thailand's weapons laws.

More than 200 police raided a three-storey building in Samut Sakhon province after Atris Hussein, a Swedish citizen of Lebanese origin, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Jan 12, 2012. Four thousand of urea-based fertiliser and 290 litres of ammonium nitrate were found in the building. (File photo by Tawatchai Khemgumnerd)

Atris Hussein, 48, was arrested on Jan 12 of last year at Suvarnabhumi airport as he was about to leave for Lebanon. Police had found large amounts of ammonium nitrate and urea-based fertiliser at two properties he was renting in Samut Sakhon province, and the US embassy had just issued an alert of a possible bombing plot in Thailand.

According to the charges, Mr Atris and unidentified accomplices had packed more than six tonnes of ammonium nitrate into bags.

Police have said they were told by Israeli authorities that Mr Atris may have had connections to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group that is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington and others.

Giving testimony to the court for the first time, Mr Atris - who was granted Swedish citizenship after claiming asylum - denied the charges and links to Hezbollah.

"I know Hezbollah in general," he told a court.

"But I don't have any relation - either directly or indirectly - with the group," he said, adding the movement is widely known in Lebanon and is part of the government.

He had regularly travelled to Thailand to source goods to export to Lebanon, the court was told, but was stopped on his last trip at Bangkok's main airport and taken into custody.

"The next day, they began to question me about where I planned to plant a bomb and who had sent me to do it. I told them I had no bombs," he said.

Ammonium nitrate is commonly used in agriculture, but mixed with other substances can make a bomb. Its possession requires a permit in Thailand.

Before Mr Atris's arrest, the United States had warned of a "serious threat" of a terrorist attack on tourist areas in Bangkok.

In a separate trial two Iranians are currently in court for suspected involvement in a botched bomb plot against Israeli diplomats in Bangkok in February of last  year, a month after Mr Atris was arrested.

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