Bangkok bomb hoax adds to rail chaos

       The train strike has driven Kittikarn Ruengsri off the rails. Hungry, angry and desperate to get to his hometown, he allegedly threatened to blow up Hua Lamphong railway station in Bangkok.
       Mr Kittikarn,25, of Nakhon Si Thammarat's Thung Song district, was arrested in Pomprap Sattruphai district in Bangkok yesterday after police identified him as the caller behind a telephone bomb hoax.
       Mr Kittikarn confessed he used his mobile phone to twice call the 191 emergency line to make the threat, police said.
       Central Investigation Bureau commissioner Tha-ngai Prassajaksattru said the 191 unit had received a call fromMr Kittikarn who said he had planted eight bombs at the main railway station.
       Mr Kittikarn said he had caught a bus from Nakhon Si Thammarat to Bangkok and planned to join the army. But he was unsuccessful because of an application mix up.
       With nowhere to go,he spent the night at the Hua Lamphong terminal hoping to catch a free ride home. However, the free trains under the government's economic relief policy do not run on longhaul routes to places such as Nakhon Si Thammarat.Mr Kittikarn said he had no money and had not eaten for two days. He stayed at Hua Lamphong and became stressed.
       He told police the rail strike further fuelled his anger so he phoned 191 and made the hoax calls.
       Pol Lt Gen Tha-ngai said investigators traced the calls and located Mr Kittikarn near a hotel on Maitreejit Road.
       Mr Kittikarn has been charged with filing false information with police. He could be jailed for up to one month and fined a maximum 1,000 baht.