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Published on January 19, 2008

At 5am, police officers in Lat Phrao were alerted about four suspicious boxes found at bus stops along Kaset Nawamin Road.

After carefully scanning the boxes for bombs, police found they contained "Dee Dee" crispy snacks with notes attached that said "Dee Dee Kan Wai" (be nice to one another) for Thailand. You can buy Dee Dee snacks at all branches of 108 Shop nationwide and it goes great with Som Tum."

Earlier, two such boxes were also found at around 3am at a bus stop on Soi Serithai 19, Major Suthat Chaiphrom, a Metropoltan Police Bomb Squad Inspector, said. Suthat said police also received reports of similar suspicious boxes placed at 10 other locations in the jurisdictions of Lat Phrao, Bueng Kum and Khok Khram police stations.

Metropolitan Police Area 4 chief Major-General Chisanu-pong Yuktathat said he had instructed officers at the three  stations to trace the source of the products. He believed it was likely to be a marketing gimmick rather than coincidence because of the number of identical boxes found.

Lat Phrao Superint-endent Colonel Somsak Boonsaeng said officers would act swiftly to find the origin of the gift boxes and ask executives to explain their intentions. If they admitted that the gift boxes belonged to their company, police could initially charge them with "causing fear to others", punishable with up to a month in jail and/or Bt1,000 in fines, according to Somsak.

"This is a petty crime but if it's an attempt at innovative advertising, it's the wrong way to go about it. It is a method that creates public fear considering the current situation in the country", he said.

Metropolitan Police spokesman Maj-General Suporn Phanseu urged people not to do anything that could cause people to panic such as leaving suspicious packages around the city.

The Nation