Weapons usually mean trouble

When weapons get into the news, it is usually about danger: the danger that the military junta is throwing even more taxpayer loot at the military or that more people have been shot down, with impunity. But for the military junta, when a cache of arms is suddenly “found,” it usually means that there’s a plan to arrest political opponents.

The junta has a long track record of “finding” weapons, blaming opponents, making arrests and then, nothing….

We makes these point because yet another “cache” of war weapons has been “discovered,” under water – several of the finds in recent years have been under water. One report states “a massive weapon discovery in the irrigation canal in Ban Khanoon Nuea village of tambon Sano in Khukhan district of Si Sa Ket,” and that Gen Prawit Wongsuwan has ordered “comprehensive checks for illegal weapons.” This cache included “27 rocket-propelled grenades, 24 rounds of ammunition for M79 grenade launchers, 700 bullets of AKA assault rifles and 48 detonation caps.”

Clipped from The Nation

But then the story gets odd indeed, with some very strange statements made by senior officials, suggesting that they are concocting and up to no good.

Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Srivara Ransibhramanakul stated that “the arms were brand-new and ready for use.” He added that he believed the “weapons were similar to those earlier seized from a hardcore red-shirt activist group…”. In another report, Pol Maj General Thawatchai Mekprasertsuk, deputy forensic police office chief, stated that the weapons “had been used dozens of times during the 2010-2014 political demonstrations…”.

Should we assume he is quoted out of context and what he means is that weapons like those found were used back then? Or is he concocting a story? After all, bombs can hardly be re-used. They are used and that’s the end of them. But no, this report refers to “M-79 and AK-47 rifles, 21 RPG grenades and 70 grenades for 40-mm grenade launchers.” The problem is that none of the photos in these reports show other than grenades and ammunition.

Maj Gen Akaradet Boonthiam, deputy chief of the 2nd Army, said “the weapons were found in a border area which was once a battlefield during a civil war in the neighbouring country. The discovered weapons were from that period, about 40 years ago…”. Was he not in on the police claims?

So what trouble is brewing from the regime? Who is going to be arrested this time? What has caused the regime to get jittery and in need of a “threat”?