VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBK #3592/01 3440858
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 090858Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5331
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS BANGKOK 003592 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PM/DTTC FOR BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC KOMC TH
SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3: PRE-LICENSE END-USE CHECK ON 
APPLICATION 050127892 
 
REF: STATE 118451 
 
¶1. (U) According to the Thai Ministry of Commerce, Kangwan 
Firearms, Limited Partnership, was listed.  The company was 
originally named Saha Phonchai Firearms Ltd., Part., and was 
renamed Kangwan on January 16, 1979. 
 
Registration No. 0203515000052 
Registered Date: January 21, 1972 
Status: Limited Partnership 
Capital Registration: 1,500,000 baht 
Executives: Suni Pankaew with an investment of 500,000 baht, 
Benjamat Sitthiphongworakun with an investment of 500,000 
baht, and Kritsani Sitthiphongworakun with an investment of 
500,000 baht. 
Managing-Partner: Suni Pankaew, without limitation of 
authority 
Company Location: 449/18, Mu 12, Thep Prasit Rd., Tambon Nong 
Prue, Amphoe Bang Lamung, Chonburi. 
The company has submitted annual financial reports for 
1999-2007. 
Purpose of Company: Retail sale of guns, ammunition, and 
other equipment. 
 
¶2. (U) The company was not listed in the phone directory. The 
reftel phone number was a confidential number and the phone 
directory could not provide more information. POL FSN called 
the number and was transferred to a representative of 
Kangwan.  The site visit revealed that the phone numbers for 
the office of the company in Chonburi Province were 
038-300-938 and 081-209-1795.  The phone directory confirmed 
that 038-300-938 was registered to Kangwan Firearms Ltd. Part. 
 
¶3. (U) POL FSN visited the Kangwan facility November 18.  The 
shop was located in Pattaya, Chonburi Province on the ground 
floor of a compound named Pattaya Housing Estate Project 2-3, 
which was a group of high-rise condominiums on a busy street 
of Pattaya.  The reftel address was confirmed and the shop 
was open for business.  POL FSN met Phansak Sakda, shop 
manager, as well as two of Kangwan's marketing and 
contracting personnel named Attar-Singh Ananthawan and his 
son, Arkhom.  Phansak appeared to run the shop alone as no 
other staff were observed.  Phansak said he has worked at 
this shop since it moved to the current location in 2000. 
The shop is a two-story concrete shop house with iron-barred 
windows and iron gates.  It had a secured storage room, 
measuring approximately 1 meter by 2 meters by 1.20 meters, 
located under the stairway leading to the second floor of the 
shop.  The walls and ceiling of the storage room were 
concrete.  The room had an iron door secured by a 
conventional key lock.  There was no sprinkler system, CCTV, 
or shop guard.  Phansak said he lives on the second floor of 
the shop. 
 
¶4. (U) There were no guns or ammunition for sale at the shop, 
just gun accessories.  Phansak said that a customer who 
wanted to purchase a gun would place an order at the shop in 
advance.  The shop has a regular annual gun quota of fifty 
rifles and thirty pistols but they are mostly sold in Bangkok 
as the market was larger there.  No customers entered the 
shop during the one hour meeting.  Attar-Singh said the 
thirty-three pistols in reftel would be imported by Kangwan 
and sold to cadets of the police cadet academy in Nakhon 
Pathom Province.  Each cadet was able to purchase a gun with 
their own money, and the gun would be used for police duties. 
 The gun would be personal property of the cadet.  The reason 
for this program was that Royal Thai Police was unable to 
provide guns for all police personnel.  The reftel guns would 
not be transported to the shop in Pattaya.  Kangwan staff, 
shipping agents, and representatives of the police cadet 
academy would go to Suvarnabhumi Airport to take possession 
of the guns from customs officials after the guns arrived in 
Thailand.  The guns would then be transported directly to the 
police cadet academy in Nakhon Pathom for registration and 
distribution. 
 
¶5. (U) Phansak presented gun shop permit number 427/2551 and 
gun sale permit number 1/2551, both issued June 7, 2008, and 
to expire June 6, 2009, annually renewable, by Bang Lamung 
District Office, Chonburi.  Attar-Singh presented the DSP-83 
and a purchase order numbered 436/5 1, not 426/51 as stated 
reftel.  All other details concurred with reftel.  He also 
brought the original gun import certifications numbered 
127/2551 - 155/2551, 168/2551, and 194/2551 - 196/2551 
totaling thirty-three pieces.  All details concurred with 
reftel other than reftel runs to only 195/2551.  Attar-Singh 
stated that Kangwan had secured a contract to purchase 
seventy-six pistols for police cadets from the academy out of 
 
a total of 201 cadets.  Among the seventy-six orders, 
thirty-three had been ordered from RSR Group Inc., 
thirty-seven were ordered from Kimber, and six were ordered 
from STI. 
 
¶6. (U) POL FSN November 18 met with the manager of the 
Pattaya Housing Estate Project 2-3.  The manager said Kangwan 
had purchased the shop-house in October, 2001.  Suni Pankaew 
had purchased the building.  Kangwan paid utility expenses to 
the Project's office.  Not irregularities were noted by the 
office.  However, the shop was usually open only 
intermittently, but had been open quite often as of late. 
 
¶7. (U) POL FSN November 18 met the Deputy District Chief of 
the Gun Section of Bang Lamung District Office, Chonburi 
Province.  He confirmed the existence and registration of 
Kangwan and certified the gun shop permit and the gun sale 
permit.  He explained that since demand for guns in Bangkok 
and southern Thailand was greater higher than in Pattaya, the 
shop rarely sells its full quota of guns to local customers. 
Therefore, it contracted with gun shops at locations in those 
areas to sell the remainder of its quota.  The shop in 
Pattaya mostly sold gun accessories.  The Gun Section did 
have any derogatory information on Kangwan. 
 
¶8. (U) POL FSN November 28 met Pol. Lt. Col. Nathi 
Chaiyanuphong, Inspector of Sub-Division 1, Police Cadet 
Division at the police cadet academy in Nakhon Pathom 
Province.  Nathi confirmed the intended purchase of guns as 
stated reftel and the names of the police cadets who had 
ordered the guns.  Nathi also confirmed Kangwan's role in the 
purchase process. 
 
¶9. (U) POL FSN November 28 met the Chief of the Gun Section 
at Sam Phran District Office in Nakhon Pathom Province.  The 
Chief confirmed the gun purchase and related permits and 
Kangwan's status in the sale. 
 
10.(U) POL FSN November 28 visited Kangwan's Bangkok office 
and met a member of the accounting staff.  The staff 
confirmed that the Bangkok office provides administrative 
support to Kangwan's sales office in Pattaya.  The staff said 
that there is also an office located in northern Bangkok that 
contacts and coordinates with Bangkok-based clients or 
government offices. 
JOHN