Several agencies claim credit for suspect’s return

Published on December 09, 2005 - Senior officials yesterday scrambled to take credit for the thawing of relations between Thailand and Malaysia after a week of denials over a report about the deportation of a suspect who fled to Malaysia with a group of 131 Thai Muslims.

The police as well as the justice and foreign ministries held their fair share of press briefings on the deportation of Amsoh Sa-u, the suspect in question.

Pol General Sombat Amorn-wiwat, director of the Justice Ministry’s Special Investigation Department, rushed to tell reporters that he led a group of commandos to Songkhla province to capture Amsoh, a suspect in the Narathiwat military camp raid last year.

Pol Maj-General Chakthip Chaijinda, commander of the Immigration Bureau, said he flew to Songkhla to capture Amsoh and hand him over to Sombat’s office.

Amsoh, a former village head, fled Narathiwat to Malaysia with 130 other Muslims in August.

On December 1, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted by Malaysian media as saying that the Thai Muslim was deported after Thai officials claimed they had an arrest warrant for him in connection with the violence in the deep South.

The Foreign Ministry, the military and the police denied the report.

Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon yesterday called an urgent press conference to announce the “good cooperation” between the two countries, but he refused to elaborate on Amsoh’s deportation. Neither country enforced an extradition treaty, he said, as the deportation was conducted amicably, he said.

The flight of the 131 Muslims strained relations between the nations as Bangkok accused Kuala Lumpur of insincerity and delaying bringing the group home.

Amsoh, also known as Hamuyoh, had a Bt500,000 bounty on his head in connection with the raid on the military camp on January 4 last year in which four soldiers were killed and 300 weapons stolen.