Thai police have denied lawyers from the Deep South access to three suspects arrested for an alleged Bangkok bombing plot.
On 30 November 2016, police transferred three men suspected of being behind an alleged Bangkok bombing plot, from the Deep Southern province of Narathiwat to the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.
The three suspects are Talmeesee Thotayong, 31, Mumbaree Kana, 22, and Abdulbasi Suereekaji, 19.
Talmeesee was arrested on 10 October near Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok while the other two were arrested in Narathiwat.
After interrogating the three, the police denied lawyers from the Muslim Attorney Centre (MAC) permission to meet them. Authorities selected a lawyer from the Lawyers Council Under the Royal Patronage to represent the three instead.
The security officers invoked authority under Section 44 of the Interim Constitution to detain the three. The section gives authorities absolute power over national security matters.
According to Pol Lt Gen Sriwara Rangsipramanakul, Deputy Chief of the Royal Thai Police, the three were caught in possession of chemicals required for making bombs. He added some among the group had confessed to being involved in violent incidents in the Deep South between 2012-2015.
Suspects of the alleged Bangkok bombing plot at the the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok on 30 November 2016