SOUTHERN VIOLENCE: THAI POLICE ARREST ONE OF THEIR

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANGKOK 000112 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2016 TAGS: PTER PHUM TH SUBJECT: SOUTHERN VIOLENCE: THAI POLICE ARREST ONE OF THEIR "MOST WANTED" Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR SUSAN M. SUTTON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B,D) ¶1. (C) Summary. On January 5, Thai police in Narathiwat arrested Mareepeng Maha, a suspected separatist on their "most wanted" list. According to police, the arrest was prompted by information from the interrogation of another high-profile arrestee. Local media has published conflicting reports on Mareepeng's role in the separatist movement, but Thai authorities are likely to overplay the impact of this arrest on the ongoing violence. End Summary. BOOK 'EM, LALO -------------- ¶2. (C) Mareepeng Maha, 33, was arrested in Narithiwat province on January 5, and charged with conspiracy to kill police officers for his alleged role in a 2001 attack on police forces in that province. Subsequent to his booking in Narathiwat provincial court, Mareepeng was also charged with a host of other crimes, including robbery, trespassing and involvement in the attack on the Lalo railway station in ¶2002. Mareepeng reportedly fled Thailand for Malaysia following the 2002 attack, but recently returned to attend a religious festival. According to police contacts, he has not yet pleaded guilty. MOST WANTED? -------------- ¶3. (C) Thai authorities appear confident of Mareepeng's central role in several separatist attacks--going so far as to call him a "leader" of the separatist group Gerakan Mujahidin Islam Pattani (GMIP--a small group of Afghan jihad veterans active in the mid 1990s) and suggesting that he has been involved in other, more recent bombings. According to police officials involved in the arrest, the tip-off came from interogations of Mana-se Che-lo, a member of the separatist group the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO) who was recently extradited from Malaysia. COMMENT -------------- ¶4. (C) Thai officials--often under strong pressure from the Thaksin administration to show progress in the South--have overblown the importance of several previous arrestees and are likely to do so with this one as well. Mareepeng's rap sheet of attempted robberies and trespassing also hints at a more quotidian criminal career than super-terrorist. However, the arrest will be a welcome bit of good news at a time when there are few obviously positive developments in the South. ARVIZU