Clark to attend Apec despite missiles scare

By SCOTT MacLEOD security reporter

Prime Minister Helen Clark and two senior ministers will attend a summit in Bangkok, despite a hunt for six missiles capable of shooting down aircraft.

Conflicting statements are coming from Thailand as some officials deny there is a threat from shoulder-fired missiles and others confirm there is some truth to reports.

Twenty-one world leaders, including US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, will attend the two-day Apec summit from October 20.

Security officials yesterday showed pictures of anti-aircraft missiles to 4000 tuk-tuk drivers and urged them to report any sightings.

An unnamed senior soldier said missiles had been smuggled across the border from Cambodia.

The Bangkok Post yesterday reported that Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had dismissed the claim as "rumour", but had confirmed there had been an investigation into such missiles.

He tried to ease concerns by saying anybody seen firing anti-aircraft missiles would be arrested immediately.

But Thai Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said a neighbouring country had reported the loss of six missiles from an arms depot.

He said they might have been smuggled to a third country, presumably Myanmar.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said last night the missiles posed a risk if obtained by terrorists, but the risk was manageable.

"With Bush and Putin there, the security will be intense," he said. "There will be a huge effort to minimise risk."

Mr Goff said he and Trade Minister Jim Sutton would travel to Bangkok together and Helen Clark would arrive later on a separate aircraft.

Defence experts such as assistant professor Andrew Tan, of the Singapore Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies have been warning for months that airliners landing in Bangkok are vulnerable to missile fire as they sweep low over the city's sprawling suburbs.

But Thailand is poised for a huge security crackdown during the summit and has told protesters they can expect no leniency.

Thousands of police and soldiers will be on duty for Apec and fighter jets will escort aircraft carrying visiting leaders.

The missile scare was the second hint in less than a month that a terrorist attack was planned for the summit.

Thai and US officials revealed on September 21 that alleged terrorist mastermind Hambali had told interrogators of a plot to attack airliners, three embassies, two hotels and the backpacker haunt at Khao San Rd.

Cambodia yesterday denied losing the missiles, but weapons are easily obtained there.

At semi-legal firing ranges near Phnom Penh, Westerners can pay to fire pistols and Kalashnikov assault rifles, throw hand-grenades and fire rocket-propelled grenades. At one range it has been known to cost US$300 ($501) to blow up a cow with a rocket.

Half a million portable anti-aircraft missiles are believed to be in circulation.