Police explosive experts defused a powerful bomb hidden in a car near the Bangkok residence of Thaksin Shinawatra, the Prime Minister, and charged an army lieutenant over an alleged plot against the Thai leader, police and officials said.

Mr Thaksin said that he knew who the plotters were but would not name them publicly, and he dismissed a military general who was deputy head of a key intelligence agency and who police said employed the arrested suspect as his driver.

Lieutenant Thawatchai Klinchana, an officer with the Internal Security Operations Command, was charged with illegal possession of an explosive device, a police spokesman said at a news conference.

Colonel Kosol Ngampramuan, chief of the bomb squad, said 148lb (67kg) of ammonium nitrate, 10lb of TNT and 3½lb of C-4 explosive were found in a car belonging to Lieutenant Thawatchai, who was arrested after fleeing the vehicle. The explosives were defused and the vehicle was towed to a safe location. Police said the vehicle was driven back and forth past Mr Thaksin’s residence and a security guard for the Prime Minister urged police to chase and stop it. (AP)

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