Wed, June 19, 2013 22:04:32 PM
Bangkok Post
Wed, June 19, 2013 22:04:32 PM
Bangkok Post
The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) has frozen assets belonging to the chairman of a foundation that runs an Islamic school in Narathiwat.
The religious ponoh school is facing accusations it allowed insurgents to assemble bombs on its grounds.
Amlo secretary-general Seehanart Prayoonrat yesterday said the office's transaction committee decided to freeze assets belonging to Useng Purong, chairman of the Aldirorchad Islameeya foundation. The assets of six other individuals have been targeted as well.
The seven have 90 days to explain how they obtained their assets, Pol Col Seehanart said.
The seized assets, worth 3 million baht, include an 18-rai plot of land belonging to the Sakom ponoh, or Islam Burapa School, in tambon Kaluwor Nua in Muang district of Narathiwat. The school was raided by authorities on July 2, 2007, and seven individuals were arrested for alleged involvement in bombings and for instigating violence in the troubled region.
One of the seven suspects was accused of carrying out 17 bomb and arson attacks, the Amlo secretary-general said.
A subsequent investigation found bombs used in attacks throughout the deep South had been made at the religious school, which was shut down on July 5, 2007.
This year, the school was allowed to operate for several months, but authorities ordered it closed when allegations of ongoing militant activity surfaced.
Pol Col Seehanart said that Amlo's board plans to confiscate the land plot on which the school was located.
''We don't prohibit the school from providing classes, but we won't allow the place to be used for separatist activities,'' Pol Col Seehanart said.
Amlo has gathered evidence against two or three more ponoh schools in the deep South after an initial investigation suggested they may have supported separatist activities similar to Islam Burapa School, he said.
Amlo has been tracing a money trail linking the foundation to overseas money transfers. Funds had been wired from Middle Eastern countries to bank accounts held by the foundation and ponoh schools to support religious activities and humanitarian work.
The donations may have been misused, said Pol Col Seehanart.
An initial probe found that overseas money transfers had been used in the South to operate gold shops or buy land. Amlo is checking whether money from these investments has been used to support separatist movements, he added.
He said several million baht had been transferred to bank accounts of suspected militants in the deep South.
Amlo has asked security agencies to monitor the Islam Burapa School to see if it is still supporting separatists.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is due to tour Narathiwat today to assess the security situation in the border province.
