SEMUTPRAKAN, Thailand – A British journalist was charged with arms possession on Tuesday (May 30) after he was arrested at an airport in the Thai capital for checking in body armor plates and gas masks as load luggage.
Anthony Cheng, 46, had been detained at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Monday (May 29) night for carrying three gas masks and four plates for safety vests, said Somchart Maneerat, a police investigator at the airport.
Thailand’s Arms Control Act stipulates that gas masks and ballistic vests are war weapons and those carrying them need a license.
Cheng faces up to five years in prison if he is found guilty of violating that act, Somchart added.
A lawyer for Cheng said he had requested bail.
Cheng’s companion, Florian Witulski, a German freelance journalist, was also detained before he boarded a flight to Iraq via Turkey for an assignment for China-based broadcaster CCTV English on Monday night.
Witulski told Reuters they were not aware that licenses were required for the safety gear, adding that he and Cheng had travelled to Iraq and Afghanistan several times and taken plates with them without being stopped by Thai authorities. (Reuters)
