BANGKOK, Aug 14 -- Thai police have detained the personal chauffeur of the late ‘Red Shirt’ military strategist Maj-Gen Khattiya Sawasdipol at an undisclosed army camp for interrogation for his alleged involvement in anti-government protests during March to May which ended in clashes between troops and protesters, according to Tharit Pengdit, chief of Department of Special Investigation (DSI).

Mr Tharit said 37-year-old Chakchalat (alias Pol) Khongsuwan, for whom an arrest warrant had been issued earlier, was re-arrested by 191 Special Branch Police (police emergency centre) and is now being detained at an army camp for interrogation.

He is being detained under the government-imposed emergency decree which allows police to detain him for a maximum 30 days before formal charges could be applied against him by the DSI, Mr Tharit said.

DSI officers have joined in the questioning, he said.

Mr Chakchalat was earlier arrested but was allowed bail by the Criminal Court on March 8 along with six other suspects, including Maj-Gen Khattiya, better known as ‘Seh Daeng’, for violating the Firearms Act and colluding in an attempt to harbour Pornwat Thongsomboon, who was wanted on an arrest warrant by the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court.

Mr  Pornwat was charged with using electronic media to incite unrest and threatening public order after uploading a video clip to the YouTube.com website which the authorities say was disruptive of public order.

Maj-Gen Khattiya was shot and died later on May 17, two days before the military crackdown on anti-government protesters in the capital.

Meanwhile, an MK 2 hand grenade was found in the parking lot of a fresh market in the Lampang provincial seat Saturday, but it could not explode as there was nothing inside.

By appearances, however, the hand grenade looked functional with a trigger mechanism, but it was old and was hollow with no explosive inside.

Local authorities believe the grenade belonged to a teenaged gang which wanted to threaten a rival group, but abandoned it in fear of legal prosecution if caught by the police having it in their possession, or it may have been an attempt by an agitator wanting to create a situation.

At the same time, a suspicious box was left at an intersection near Chiang Mai International Airport. The provincial bomb squad rushed to the scene but found that it was just an empty box.

The authorities said the incident may have been aimed at creating a situation after the bomb unit defused a bomb near a police box in San Pa Tong district few days ago. (MCOT online news)