Thailand Hunts World Trade Centre-Pentagon Attack Suspects by Phairath Khampha 29 September 2001 The hunt for those responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States spread far and wide. In Thailand, amid a general tightening of security, police said they were on the lookout for 15 Arab nationals suspected by the American CIA of having been involved in planning the attacks. Members of various Islamic militant groups were known to have frequented Thailand in the past. Thailand's notoriously lax border controls have long made it a convenient haven for anyone wanting to keep beyond the reach of the law. Bin Laden connection According to local press reports recent visitors in Thaiuland had included associates of Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden and members of other militant groups from the Middle East. In the wake of devastating September 11 attacks in the United States, there was concern that some of the individuals responsible could try to seek refuge on Thai soil. US officials gave Thai police photographs and information regarding 15 suspects, including Yemeni, Saudi and Palestinian nationals. The men were spotted visiting the World Trade Centre in New York prior to the attack there. Difficult search Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, placed the country's security agencies on alert for the possible presence of suspected foreign terrorists in the country. But the hunt coul prove difficult. Thailand's long land and sea borders, including that with mainly Muslim Malaysia, have thwarted similar crackdowns in the past. Furthermore, Thai security authorities are more likely to rather accept bribes and look the other way than do anything because Thais generally have a stronger loyalty to money in their pockets than anything else. Meanwhile anxiety about the longer-term fallout from events in the US deepened in Thailand. Local pundits said the economy was likely to be hurt by higher international oil prices and by possible damage to Thailand's lucrative tourism industry.