Across Asia: Thailand

Crew may be released

The crew of a plane carrying 35 tons of missile parts and other illegal weapons from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea may be released rather than face charges in Thailand where they were arrested, a Thai official said yesterday.

Thailand was not opposed to deporting the five-man crew as requested by their home countries, Kazakhstan and Belarus, said Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban.

The case has been shrouded in secrecy since the plane and the weapons were impounded and crew arrested at Bangkok's second-biggest airport on Dec 11.

Bomb detectors dubious

The Thai government set up a scientists and experts committee yesterday to test British-made "bomb detectors" on which the army has spent $15 million but which critics charge are useless and a fraud.

(China Daily 02/04/2010 page11)