Thai Cabinet Seeks Way To Assist Thai Detainees In Cambodia

via CAAI

BANGKOK, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- The Thai Cabinet has continued seeking ways to assist seven Thai detainees in Cambodia including a member of Parliament from the ruling Democrat Party and a leading activist, Thai News Agency reported Tuesday.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters before the Cabinet's first weekly meeting in 2011 at Government House in Bangkok Tuesday morning that the detention of the seven Thai nationals by Cambodian authorities was among top agenda for the Cabinet's discussions to seek ways for their release.

The seven Thai people, led by the Democrat MP, Panich Vikitsreth, and the leading activist of the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy(PAD), Veera Somkwamkid, were arrested by Cambodian soldiers in a contentious area along the Thai-Cambodian border claimed by Cambodia last week and have been detained by Phnom Penh on charges of illegal entry into the Cambodian territory.

In response to two video clips distributed on YouTube Monday (Jan 3) in which Panich was heard talking on a mobile phone and telling his secretary to inform Premier Abhisit's personal secretary he was on the Cambodian soil, Abhisit insisted he had only been reported by the Democrat MP that he would travel to a border area.

The Thai leader said, however, that an official press conference would be held after the Thai Cabinet meeting.

Meanwhile, Commanding General of Thailand's First Army Area Command Lieutenant General Udomdej Sitabutr denied making any comment on reports that a group of Thai activists calling themselves "patriotic Thais" planned to stage a rally along the Thai-Cambodian border in the eastern Thai Sa Kaeo Province Tuesday to call for Phnom Penh's release of the seven Thai nationals.

The First Army Area commander said that he would give an interview on the issue Wednesday.