The Burmese embassy is not ruling out the possibility that two dissidents arrested by the Cambodian military are members of the anti-Rangoon faction that took over a Thai hospital earlier this week, a Burmese diplomat said Wednesday.
The Cambodian military’s decision to keep secret the backgrounds and whereabouts of the two men who were taken into custody by Battambang Military Police Jan 14 has hampered investigations by Burmese authorities, the Phnom Penh-based diplomat said.
“There is no contact with [Cambodian] authorities. We are trying to get it,” said the Burmese diplomat, who asked not to be named. The diplomat said the embassy was unable to establish if the two are members of God’s Army, which laid siege Monday to a Thai hospital in Ratchaburi.
“We are also not sure if they are related to the group in Thailand….[Cambodian authorities] did not give us information,” the diplomat said.
Mol Roeup, head of military intelligence, reiterated Wednesday he did not know where the two are, calling it a Foreign Ministry issue. However, military and military police officials said this week Mol Roeup has personally taken charge of the case.
Long Visalo, head of consular affairs at the ministry, also said Wednesday he had no information about the two.
A Thai military official in Phnom Penh said Wednesday he did not know if the two were linked to God’s Army but said the case was unique. “It is very unusual they crossed from Burma to Cambodia,” he said.
Opposition Parliamentarian Son Chhay expressed concern at rumors which linked the dissidents to the Sam Rainsy Party, calling them creations by those trying to damage the party.
“Any struggle for democracy has our party’s respect, [but] we do not support violent movements,” Son Chhay said.
Por Vannak, Battambang’s military police commander, said last week the two men identified as Mon Say and Kao Sik were detained in Samlot district attempting to procure arms and supporters for their war against the government in Rangoon.
Military police arrested the pair for entering Cambodia without passports but immediately handed them over to military intelligence in Phnom Penh who secreted the case.
