Terror suspect Surachai Thewarat has decided not to cooperate in volunteering information about armed violence during the red-shirt protests in May, despite saying last week he would do so.
Department of Investigation (DSI) sources said the suspect changed his mind after learning he would not be granted legal immunity in exchange for his information, as he was allegedly responsible for eight grenade and firefight attacks during the protests as well as dealing with military weapons.
The DSI had earlier agreed to give protection to his mother, wife and a young child. The sources said the suspect might have lost interest in the deal because red-shirt members who visited him at the prison could have made their own promises to take care of his family, in return for him refusing to cooperate.
Surachai said last week he might provide details about the attacks and certain ex-police and military officers who helped plan them. Some of the attacks employed military weapons and resulted in many deaths.
The sources said Surachai's disqualification from legal immunity because of his inexcusable crimes was similar to the case of former model Methee Amornwitthikul, who was arrested after the protests ended for possession of military weapons, and later had his details-for-immunity proposal turned down.
The DSI yesterday paraded at a press conference weapons it says it bought from Surachai in a sting, saying the suspect ran out of money after the protests and tried to raise funds urgently by selling the items.
In return for Bt60,000, the DSI said, Surachai sold to Navy undercover agents four AK-47 assault rifles and 14 magazines, two M79 grenade launchers and 12 grenades, 25 hand grenades and a large number of M16 and AK-47 munitions.
The AK-47 rifles could have been smuggled into Thailand, as they carried Chinese lettering and were not government-issued weapons for Thai troops, the DSI said, adding that Surachai's asking price of Bt100,000 had been reduced by Bt40,000 after a deal between him and the agents.
Director-general Tharit Phengdit said the DSI's initial conclusion that the suspect was behind eight attacks, out of more than 60 in total, was not an exaggeration, and that Surachai's team was only one of many.
Tharit indicated that Surachai's acts were linked to the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD), which organised the red-shirt protests.
Pheu Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the DSI's statements over the sting operation were suspicious. He wondered why the agents did not arrest him during the operation, and why the DSI did not carry out a second sting to arrest more people as it had suggested earlier.
"If there are really other persons involved, the DSI is supposed to take swift and drastic action to arrest all suspects, given the seriousness of their crimes," he said.
The opposition party brought Surachai's wife and mother to a press conference, saying they and the party had lodged an appeal asking for fairness for the suspect to prevent him being a scapegoat.
His wife, Duen, said that if her husband really worked for late Army specialist Maj-General Khattiya Sawasdiphol, as stated by the DSI, he would have had sufficient money, yet he asked for money from his mother and lived in a rented house.