Thai police search for more ‘firearms’

NZ expels US diplomat

BANGKOK, March 20, (Agencies): Thai police said Monday that they’re looking for more weapons believed to be part of a plot to assassinate the prime minister, after police discovered guns and thousands of bullets allegedly belonging to an anti-establishment leader.

Police found over a dozen guns, around 6,000 bullets, knives, drugs, grenades and other contraband over the weekend that they said belonged to Wuthipong Kochathamakun, who was part of the violent antigovernment protests in 2010 that paralyzed Bangkok for three months and killed around 90 civilians and six soldiers.

Krisana Pattanacharoen, a deputy police spokesman, said police officers were halfway through searching over 2,000 shipping containers at noon Monday where they believe more weapons were kept.

In the seizure Saturday, police also discovered red fabric banners with Wuthipong’s nickname printed on them.

Wuthipong, better known as “Ko Tee,” denied having any knowledge of the weapons stash in a Sunday interview on the YouTube channel “Jom Voice” and charged that the seizures were a setup by Thai authorities. He is currently seeking political asylum in neighboring Laos since Thailand’s military toppled the elected government he supports in a coup in 2014.

“Looking at this incident, I can tell you now — it is a setup that is not well concealed,” Wuthipong said. He also said that his friends and colleagues have been searched “hundreds of times” by authorities, making it impossible for any of them to hoard such a large amount of firearms.

Police said the weapons were part of a plot to assassinate leaders of Thailand’s military government, including Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.

Prayuth

PH VP faces impeachment complaint:

A lawyer for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos on Monday filed an impeachment complaint against Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo for her strong criticism of the administration’s bloody war on drugs.

The complaint for violation of the constitution and betrayal of public trust was sent by Oliver Lozano to the office of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a staunch ally of President Rodrigo Duterte. Alvarez had for several days been studying whether to file a complaint himself.

“She is the termite of the government,” Lozano said in a letter seeking endorsement for his six-page complaint.

Robredo, who is not a member of Duterte’s party and was elected in a separate contest, may have landed herself in trouble after issuing a strong rebuke of the popular president’s war on drugs in a video sent to the United Nations.

Indonesia continue to send maids:

Indonesia said Monday it would continue to send domestic helpers overseas, in an about-turn welcomed by campaigners who said it would help prevent women falling prey to human trafficking.

Thousands of Indonesian women travel to places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia every year to become maids, attracted by promises of higher salaries despite reports of widespread abuses and near slave-like living conditions.

Jakarta had previously said it would stop sending maids overseas from this year, on the grounds of protecting the women, sparking concerns it would push more poor Indonesians desperate for jobs into illegal migration.

NZ expels US diplomat:

New Zealand has expelled an attache at the US Embassy after Washington declined to waive his right to diplomatic immunity after an “incident” which gave him a broken nose and a black eye, media and authorities said.

New Zealand police said they responded to the incident near the capital Wellington on March 12 involving an employee of the US Embassy. They did not say what work the employee did or give any other details.

The US government later declined a police request to waive the employee’s diplomatic immunity, the New Zealand Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The New Zealand Herald at the weekend identified the man as an embassy attache and said he had left country with a broken nose and black eye.

A spokeswoman for the US Embassy said it was in touch with New Zealand authorities.

US begins fingerprinting refugees:

US security officers have begun fingerprinting refugees held on Pacific islands in the final stage of assessing who will find new lives in the United States, asylum seekers said Monday.

Department of Homeland Security officers are taking biometric details from refugees on Nauru, including fingerprints, heights and weights, according to a document circulated among asylum seekers and provided to AP by Mehdi, a refugee on the island nation who for security reasons did not want his family name published.

US officials began scheduling appointments with asylum seeker families on Nauru from Monday, Mehdi said.

Sydney airline grounds 5 planes:

Five Regional Express Airlines passenger planes had been grounded as a precaution after a near disaster in which a propeller fell off an airliner as it approached Sydney Airport, the Australian airline said on Monday.

A Saab 340 carrying 19 passengers and crew landed safely in Sydney on Friday after one its two propellers fell off over Sydney’s southwest fringe.

The Sydney-based airline, also known as Rex, said it had grounded another five of its fleet of 55 Saab 340s because their propeller gear boxes and shafts were from the same series as the defective propeller.

East Timor votes for president:

East Timor voted for a new president Monday in an election that will test Asia’s newest and poorest nation.

Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres, a former guerrilla leader from the leftist Fretilin party, was up against seven other candidates. He and the Democratic Party’s Antonio da Conceicao, the minister of education and social affairs, were the front-runners.

While East Timor’s president has a mostly ceremonial role, the prime minister heads the government.