Hong Kong journalist arrested in Thailand over body armour

The Samut Prakan Provincial Court granted bail to Mr Kwan on Monday.

According to a statement from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT), Kwan, who works for Initium Media Technology, has been charged under the 1987 Arms Control Act, which prohibits the possession of military equipment without a licence.

A photojournalist from Hong Kong may face jail time after he was held at a Thai airport for carrying body armor and a helmet, which he’d brought to report on the bomb blast that went off at Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine last week.

Lt. Sakon Rungkiatpaisarn of Pra Kanong Station said the grenade was found Monday morning buried in a plot on Sukhumvit 81 being prepared for construction.

He had been covering the bombing in central Bangkok that left 20 dead, and authorities found body armor and a helmet in his carry-on luggage before he boarded his flight to Hong Kong.

No arrests have been made with the police scrambling to identify the perpetrators of an attack that has sent shockwaves through the country’s vital tourist sector.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand criticised Kwan’s arrest, adding they had been told the photographer would be tried in a military court.

“Having a bulletproof vest in possession without permission is subject to five years in jail and/or a fine of no more than 50,000 baht (HK$10,846)”, the lawyer explained.

Since seizing power in a coup past year, Thailand’s junta have ramped up the use of military courts, particularly for any crimes that are deemed national security cases.

The FCCT said in a statement: “Body armour and helmets used by journalists are not offensive weapons and should not be treated as such”.

“We are dismayed to learn that a photo-journalist from Hong Kong has been detained and charged for carrying body armour and a helmet”, it said. Use of protective gear is common among journalists on potentially unsafe assignments, and some media firms require their employees to do so.

Journalists Hiro Muramoto and Fabio Polenghi were shot and killed while covering street protests in Bangkok in 2010.

Journalists have also worn such protection during periods of unrest largely without falling foul of police.