Robbery was the motive for the attack on a member of the entourage accompanying Kedah Regency Council chairperson Tunku Annuar Sultan Badlishah in Phuket, Thailand last Wednesday.

Chief Private Secretary to the Sultan of Kedah, Syed Unan Mashri Syed Abdullah, in a statement to Bernama here today, clarified that the attack had nothing to do with any threat on Tunku Annuar.

"Preliminary investigation by the Thai police revealed that the incident had something to do with passport thefts because the black market price for an illegal passport is high," said Syed Unan, who is also the secretary of the Kedah Regency Council.

On the night of the incident, the Special Assistant to Tunku Annuar, who is also the Tunku Bendahara of Kedah, Mohd Sobri Said returned to his room at the Millennium Resort Lake Side Hotel, Phatong and found four robbers in his room.

The Thai robbers assaulted Mohd Sobri to the extent that he suffered cuts and bound him. They seized his Malaysian passport, mobile phone and wallet, but did not take other items, said Syed Unan.

The media today reported that Thai police yesterday detained two Malaysian men in their 40s to assist in the investigation into the case. Also detained were their wives and a Thai national.

- Bernama