In a manner as obscure as when they were apprehended, five suspects of the North Korean arms smuggling yesterday were deported from Thailand to their home countries in Belarus and Kazakhstan after the authority dropped the charge of possession of illegal weapons into the country.
The deportation was in a process of international obligation in accordance with the United Nations Resolution on sanction to North Korea, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said.
The five left Suvarnnaphumi airport by a commercial flight KC 932 yesterday evening for their respective home countries which requested Thailand to hand them for further investigation there. Representatives of their respective embassies in Hanoi, which also cover Thailand, accompanied them on board to home, a Thai official said.
Kazakhs Ilyas Isakov, Viktor Abdullayev, Alexander Zrybnev and Vitaliy Shunkov and a Belarusian, Mikhail Petukou were arrested on December 12 after the Ilyushin Il76 cargo plane flying from Pyongyang landed in Don Muang airport for refuelling.
Officials found 35 tonnes of weapons on board, a violation of UN sanctions against North Korea. The weapons' ultimate destination remains a mystery. The Thai officials and flight plan indicated that the plane was bound for Iran but Teheran denied it was not the destination.
International observers said the mystery might not be clear as the suspects have already been freed and nobody expected their home countries would conduct further investigation.
The Interfax news agency cited a spokesman for Kazakhstan's General Prosecutor saying that a decision would be made on whether to prosecute the men upon their return.
The Thai Office of Attorney General (OAG) dropped the charge for the benefit of good relations with Belarus and Kazakhstan as well as the fact that the weapons would not be used in Thailand.
The government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the cabinet did not intervene in the OAG decision but gave the guideline for the state prosecutor to handle the case in accordance with the UN resolution and for the stake of good relation with foreign countries.
Following the Thai decision to drop the case, US embassy spokeswoman Cynthia Brown said yesterday that "This was a matter for the Thai attorneygeneral's office to decide. We respect the independence of Thailand's system.
"We do want to applaud Thailand for their implementation of the resolution and their responsible decision to report this information."
She added that the UN committee set up to enforce the resolution was continuing to investigate the incident.
The UN Resolution 1874 issued in June authorises member states to inspect, seize and dispose of prohibited weapons and related items import or export from North Korea.
Prime Minister Abhisit said his government is still waiting for guideline from the UN what to do with the seized weapons and the aircraft, which are now kept at a northern airfield.
The UN Security Council called a meeting on the incident on Thursday to work on a letter to remind Pyongyang to comply with the UN resolution but has not yet made any suggestions for Thailand on the case.
