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PussyLover 69
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Report from The Nation dated 16 January 2012 :-
Suspect's confession led to finding of bomb ingredient
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Police Chief Gen Priewphan Damapong said the suspect, Hussein Atris, who was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport, confessed about the storage unit in Muang district and led police to the building where he guided them throughout the search.
He quoted Hussein as saying that the three-storey building on Rama II Road was used to stock ingredients for explosives but that his network has never had any intention of attacking Thailand.
Among the ingredients found on the second floor of the building, which had been rented for about a year, were 4,380 kilogrammes of fertilisers in 337 boxes and 260 litres of liquid ammonium nitrate. Also confiscated were slippers and 400 electric fans packed in boxes.
"The suspect said the substances were usually shipped out of the country hidden in electric fan boxes," Priewphan said.
"The suspect asked me to tell Thai people not to worry because there would definitely be no terrorism attack in Thailand," he said.
Hussein, 47, was detained as he was about to board a flight out of Thailand on Friday in connection with a plan to attack tourist sites in Bangkok. The arrest was made after US Embassy in Thailand issued an alert to its citizens about possible terrorism attacks.
Police have released a sketch of the second suspect who is still at large.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 2:04 am on Jan. 16, 2012
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Kaymanx
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"The suspect asked me to tell Thai people not to worry because there would definitely be no terrorism attack in Thailand," he said.
Not difficult to tell where truth ended and fiction began.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 3:22 am on Jan. 16, 2012
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tvn
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Yeah...they dont this kind of news b/c will hurt tourism industry....
Hope that I will not be in the middle of any kind of attacks.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:33 pm on Jan. 16, 2012
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Harry
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Hizballah planned Mumbai-style attack on Habad Bangkok, Khao San restaurants
DEBKAfile Special Report January 16, 2012
Hizballah suspect Atris Hussein
The Thai police's capture of a Lebanese-Swedish Hizballah suspect, who was charged Monday, Jan. 16, thwarted a terrorist attack on Bet Habad in Bangkok, involving the taking of hostages and blowing up the building. It was to have followed the same lines as al Qaeda's 2008 assault on the Mumbai Habad center which killed 8 Israelis and Jews - only more ambitious. The Habad Bangkok is much larger: its hostel has rooms for dozens of lodgers. A second team was to have hit the Khao San Road restaurants popular with Israelis and Americans in a coordinated operation.
This is the first time Western and Israeli agencies have found evidence of the Lebanese Shiite Hizballah using and training operatives in the same terrorist methods as al Qaeda.
DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources note that two or possibly three Hizballah cells were to have gone into coordinated action on the same date this month. The only suspect in Thai custody is Atris Hussein, 47, who was arrested as soon as he landed at Bangkok international airport Thursday, Jan. 12.
He first denied association with Hizballah, claiming he was on holiday. Sunday, he broke down under interrogation and admitted he was on a mission to attack Jewish, Israeli and American sites and that explosive materials had been prepared in advance by another Hizballah team, which had pinpointed the targets and was to have briefed the perpetrators.
Thai authorities believe that each team was made up of two or three members, all carrying European or Persian Gulf emirate passports.
Monday, Jan 16, Hussein led the police to an address he received from his Hizballah controllers in Lebanon in the Samut Sakorn province on Bangkok’s outskirts. There they found a cache of 4,000 kilograms of urea fertilizer and 10 gallons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound used in explosives. The materials had not been assembled, indicating the plot was still not quite ready to go.
The Thai police were waiting for the suspect at the airport after receiving alerts from US and Israeli counter-terrorist agencies, which had advance information about the coming attack. According to DEBKAfile's intelligence sources, the tip-off originated with Lebanese nationals living in Bangkok who had been approached for assistance. Those informants, who did not trust the local authorities to act, went straight to Western and Israeli contacts, who then published terror alerts to US and Israeli travelers.
The terror alerts issued by the US embassy and Israel's Counter-Terror Bureau are still in force.
Sources familiar with the investigation report a major manhunt in progress for Hossein's confederates in Thailand, Europe and the Middle East. Some of those sources suspect the advance team members who prepared the explosives materials managed to escape, either by plane from Bangkok or by crossing into Laos and catching a flight there, although others believe they are still hiding out in Thailand waiting for another chance to strike.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 1:05 am on Jan. 17, 2012
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Kaymanx
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Quote: from Harry on 2:05 pm on Jan. 17, 2012
Sunday, he broke down under interrogation and admitted he was on a mission
Those words fill me with some respect for Thai interrogation methods.
Very interesting report, Harry. Thanks.
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 1:19 am on Jan. 17, 2012
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magnum
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Quote: from Kaymanx on 2:19 pm on Jan. 17, 2012
... Thai interrogation methods?.. I sort of doubt any Thai agency is in the lead on any of this.
... the local Lebanese who were tipped to the planned attack went directly to Western and Israeli intel to report the threat, "not trusting the Thais to act"... Thai official incompetence and corruption, across all aspects of Thai public and private sectors, are well known.
... I doubt any foreign government would rely upon the Thais to defend their citizens from jet-ski scams, much less terrorists.
... I'd wager every step any Thai involved in this makes, is taken with a foreign 'shadow agent' right behind them, who allows them to take credit so that Thailand does not appear as the soft target it is.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 1:47 am on Jan. 17, 2012
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PussyLover 69
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Report from The Nation dated 17 January 2012 :-
Terror suspect to be further questioned
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Hussein entered the Thai capital several times during Jan 10-12 and conversed with several persons, both Thais and foreigners.
Police from the Crime Suppression Division will participate in investigating the suspect, Deputy National Police Chief Pol Gen Pansiri Prapawat said.
Hussein was charged Monday afternoon with possessing agricultural fertilisers, chemicals which were linked to a terror plot after the substances, which can be used to compound explosives, were discovered in a building in suburban Samut Sakhon, adjacent to the capital.
Despite the fact that a large amount of urea fertiliser and ammonium nitrate solution was found, the suspect said the building was used only to store the chemicals, but not to produce explosives.
Pansiri said fingerprints on the seized items will be ready within two days.
Meanwhile, no hidden traces were found after being thoroughly examined at 400 fans, which were among the items seized at the building. Police said there were believed to be more than one suspect involved and who might have planned to ship the fans abroad with the ammonium nitrate solution.
Hussein said there was no terror plot planned for Thailand but the country was being used as a transit site to distribute materials for making bombs overseas.
However, the location was not disclosed by the Thai authorities.
Hussein was detained for questioning Friday at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport under Thai immigration law with suspected links to Hezbollah, a militant political party in Lebanon which holds 11 of 30 cabinet seats in the Lebanese government and which is considered as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States, Britain, Canada and several other countries.
He was leaving Thailand the same day as the US embassy in Bangkok issued a terrorist threat warning for the capital.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 4:10 am on Jan. 17, 2012
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magnum
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... sad to say, but with Thai official's history of lying, Thai culture of lying, and lack of a free Thai press, I can bring myself to believe little they say here.
... these guys are first and foremost about saving their face and making money from foreigners, not saving lives from terrorists.
... wish we could know what is really happening, rather than being fed empty platitudes: "We have everything under control"... "Thailand is not a terrorist target"... "Thailand is safe to visit."
... is anyone reading reports through sources other than Thais?
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Thai Girls : Meet Active Thai Girls
Posted on: 4:56 am on Jan. 17, 2012
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China Sailor
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What you see here is pretty much what you would find on CNN.
If the US or Israeli Intelligence Services are doing anything we will not hear anything until the shooting is over...
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 8:21 am on Jan. 17, 2012
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magnum
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... bloody hell, that's 4+ metric tons!... that would be a f***ing monster of a fertilizer bomb.
... to which the Thai prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, said: “The situation is under control — no problem. And I can guarantee the safety of our citizens and foreign tourists.”... sheeee-yit!
... couple of recent reports by NY Times and Asia Times are offering a more balanced report than the Thai government are spinning to the local Thai media to save their asses.
... if I seem a little pissed about this, I live on Soi 22 about 100 metres from Beth Elisheva Synagogue... and... I have children.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/world/asia/thai-police-in-bangkok-seize-bomb-making-material.html?_r=1&ref=terrorism
In Twisting Terror Case, Thai Police Seize Chemicals
Associated Press
A Thai police officer stood guard during a raid on the outskirts of Bangkok on Monday.
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: January 16, 2012
BANGKOK — Thai police units on Monday seized what they said was a large stash of two chemicals that could be used to make rudimentary bombs, as a murky case that put the country on alert for a terrorist attack took a confusing turn.
Thai police officers carried boxes of fertilizer and ammonium nitrate confiscated from a warehouse near Bangkok on Monday.
Thai police officers escorted a Lebanese man, who was accused of plotting violence, in Bangkok on Monday.
A top Bangkok police official said the chemicals, ammonium nitrate and urea, were found in a commercial building on the outskirts of Bangkok. They were meant to be shipped out of the country, the official said, allaying fears of a pending attack on Thai soil.
The Thai prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, said: “The situation is under control — no problem. And I can guarantee the safety of our citizens and foreign tourists.”
But the United States Embassy said it stood by its emergency message issued Friday, saying terrorists might be planning attacks against “tourist areas in Bangkok in the near future.”
The case appears to center on a Lebanese man, identified as Atris Hussein, who was arrested at Bangkok’s main airport on Thursday evening as he tried to leave the country. The Thai authorities said his arrest came after a tip from Israeli intelligence agents, who warned that a group of people who appeared to be from Hezbollah were planning to strike tourist sites in Bangkok in mid-January.
Thai officials said Mr. Hussein was himself a member of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group based in Lebanon that the United States and Israel consider a terrorist organization. Hezbollah denied that he was a member.
Thailand now fears the effect on the country’s tourism, a pillar of the economy. The Israeli government has advised its citizens visiting Thailand not to congregate in public, and the United States Embassy issued the emergency message. The Thai authorities increased security over the weekend at Khao San Road, a center for backpackers in the capital, and at other places popular with foreigners.
On Monday, Mr. Hussein, clad in a protective vest and a face mask, led the police units to a three-story building he had been renting for a year in Samut Sakhon Province, near Bangkok, where they found the chemicals, both of which can be used as fertilizers. The urea was stored in bags labeled as cat litter.
The chief of the Bangkok Metropolitan Police, Winai Thongsong, said in an interview that Mr. Hussein had contacted a shipping company in Thailand to send the material out of the country in container units. Mr. Winai declined to specify the intended destination.
“At first, we were not sure whether Thailand was a target or not,” he said. “But now it is quite clear that our country was being used as a transit area.”
Bangkok is a major hub for passport counterfeiting, drug trafficking and other illicit activities. A history of loose law enforcement has also attracted hundreds of international fugitives over the years. American officials say that Hezbollah does have a footprint here, using Bangkok as a center for a cocaine and money-laundering network.
There was some uncertainty about Mr. Hussein’s documents. The Thai authorities said he was traveling with two passports, one Lebanese and one Swedish.
Anders Jorle, a spokesman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry, said the Swedish passport had expired, despite an image of the main page of the passport circulating in the Thai media that appears to show expiration in 2015.
Swedish officials have asked to meet with Mr. Hussein. “We have not seen this person or met him,” Mr. Jorle said by telephone from Stockholm. “We cannot confirm whether he is a Swedish national.”
Mr. Hussein faces a maximum of five years in prison if convicted on the charge of possessing arms. The Thai authorities have distributed a sketch of a suspected associate, who is still at large.
Poypiti Amatatham contributed reporting.
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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NA18Ae02.html
US, Thailand tussle over terror plot
By Richard Ehrlich
BANGKOK - When the United States Embassy issued a travel advisory about "foreign terrorists" in Bangkok last weekend, the warning may have prevented a massive car bombing in an area popular with Western tourists. But in a surprising diplomatic rebuke, Thailand complained about the impact of Washington's counter-terrorism strategy on its economically crucial tourism industry.
Hussein Atris, an alleged Lebanese-born, Swedish passport-holding member of Hezbollah, led police on Monday to a rented building packed with potential bomb-making ingredients after he was arrested in Bangkok on January 13. Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim organization represented in Lebanon's government and supported by Iran and Syria, is listed by Washington as a terrorist organization.
The building held 9,656 pounds (4,380 kilograms) of urea fertilizer and 10 gallons (37.8 liters) of liquid ammonium nitrate, police told reporters. Those chemicals can be used in agriculture, rock quarries and elsewhere, but also to make a bomb.
"The suspect told us the bomb-making materials were not for terrorist attacks in Thailand, but were intended to be smuggled out of the country," national police chief Priewpan Damapong told reporters on Monday.
Police charged Atris, 47, with illegal possession of restricted chemicals but said he may face additional charges. The terror suspect wore handcuffs with his face hidden by a black balaclava while being accompanied by more than 100 police and security officials armed with assault rifles during the raid on the outskirts of Bangkok in Samut Sakhon province.
Atris holds a Swedish passport issued in 2005, according to a scan of the document published by Ynet, an online news website of Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper. Atris married a Swedish woman in 1996 and reportedly owned a hair salon in Gothenburg, Sweden, before he returned to live in Lebanon, according to media reports.
Police issued a sketch of a second clean-shaven man who appeared to be in his 30s or 40s and was described as a terrorist suspect who was traveling with Atris. The hand-drawn portrait "bears great resemblance to Hezbollah operative Naim Haris", reported Ynet.
"The latter's photo was unusually published last year by the Shin Bet [Israel's internal security agency], which at the time identified him as an operative in charge of recruiting Hezbollah agents worldwide," Ynet reported on Sunday.
"Iran and Hezbollah may have now chosen Thailand as the target for a terror attack against Israel, possibly to avenge the recent killings and blasts in Iran, or to take revenge for the assassination of Hezbollah's military chief Imad Mugniyah some four years ago," Ynet reported.
Lebanese media reports quoting Hezbollah members contested that assessment, however. The arrested man "is not one of Hezbollah's members", said Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, a Hezbollah political bureau member, according to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp.
Security was increased at several sites in the Thai capital after the suspect was arrested while attempting to depart from Bangkok's international airport on January 13. Thai officials said possible bomb targets included Bangkok's tourist-packed Khao San Road where inexpensive entertainment venues are popular late into the night during the warm tropical winter.
On a narrow street parallel to Khao San Road is Bangkok's Jewish Chabad House, permanently guarded by Israeli and Thai security. Upstairs is a Jewish-only floor with a small orthodox synagogue segregated according to gender, plus free telephone lines from Bangkok to Israel, Internet terminals and other travelers' facilities.
Chabad House is also visited by hundreds of mostly Israeli travelers every Saturday night for religious services and a free dinner. Directly across from Chabad House is the multi-story Viengtai Hotel frequented by Israeli tourists who want to be near Chabad House and dine at its downstairs public Kosher restaurant.
Thai officials said a second possible target was Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 22, which is crowded with tourist venues and the site of Beth Elisheva Synagogue, Thailand's main center for Jewish services. One street away, on Sukhumvit Soi 20, is a Hebrew school.
Thailand is a favorite destination for thousands of Israeli tourists each year. An additional 300 mostly foreign Jews reside in Thailand and are mostly involved in import-export businesses and jewelry production.
Diplomatic fallout
Amid the investigation, arrest and continuing manhunt, however, Thailand publicly lashed out at the American Embassy for warning its citizens of the possible danger. Thailand's economy depends on a massive tourism industry and feared that travelers might cancel their visits because of the US alert.
"As for what the US has done, I have already expressed my disappointment through the media and this was a diplomatic way of telling the US off for not consulting with Thailand first," Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said on January 15, condemning the embassy's unilateral decision to alert its citizens.
The foreign minister said the day before that he was "disappointed that embassies have not consulted the Foreign Ministry, according to diplomatic convention, before issuing the warnings." Following the US warning - issued hours before Atris was arrested - a dozen other countries issued similar public alerts.
"I have instructed the Defense Ministry's Policy and Planning Office to contact the US military attache," Defense Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapa said on January 15. "I want to ask the US to be more careful when a situation like this happens in the future... The matter has affected not only security, but also the economy," the defense minister said after warning of a possible car bomb.
On December 18, Israel reportedly told the US and Thailand about the presence of at least two Hezbollah members in Bangkok. The three countries then began a secret, three-week-long hunt of the terror suspects. The US Embassy published the alert on January 13 on its Facebook and Twitter pages, and in an e-mail to registered American citizens in Thailand.
"This message alerts US citizens in Thailand that foreign terrorists may be currently looking to conduct attacks against tourist areas in Bangkok in the near future," the US Embassy mass e-mail said.
"We have alerted US citizens about a potential threat in BKK fm foreign terrorists. Based on serious, credible info," US ambassador Kristie Kenney tweeted on Sunday. "It is Bangkok specific. Which is why USEmb BKK issued it, not a global warning from WashDC," the ambassador tweeted on Friday.
Washington has provided military and counter-terrorism support - including weapons, training and money - to successive Thai governments. The two countries are non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies and traditionally enjoy very close diplomatic relations.
Some US and international security officials assume foreign terrorists occasionally use Thailand as a "safe house" to get medical treatment, counterfeit documents, and arrange clandestine meetings - while not launching attacks because they do not want a security crackdown.
The only successful major Middle Eastern assault in Bangkok occurred on December 28, 1972 when Arab gunmen invaded the Israeli Embassy and seized hostages while simultaneously, across town, Prince Vajiralongkorn was being crowned, making him the Crown Prince and heir to the throne.
The four Arabs identified themselves as the "Black September Ali Taha Group", linked to an event in 1970 when Jordan kicked out its Palestinian refugees, killing or wounding 4,000 Palestinians.
The Arabs arrived at the Israeli Embassy in a taxi, brandished assault rifles, gained entry and threatened to kill six hostages, including an Israeli ambassador. The siege ended peacefully when the rebels were given safe passage to Egypt and departed on a Thai International flight.
In 1994, police belatedly stumbled upon a one-ton bomb in a rented six-wheel truck near the Israeli Embassy after seizing the vehicle because of a minor traffic accident.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 9:30 am on Jan. 17, 2012
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