Man Held by FBI in Embassy Scare

A Baldwin Park man arrested for allegedly trying to bomb the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok earlier this year is one of a small group of Southern Californian exiles working to overthrow Vietnam’s Communist government.

Vo Van Duc, 41, a former architectural student and construction contractor, was arrested Friday by FBI agents as he stepped off a flight at John Wayne Airport from Seattle.

The exiles have been waging a little-noticed battle with the Vietnamese government for years, from publishing opposition newspapers inside the country to failed bombing attempts at embassies in Asia and Europe.

Authorities charged Vo with using a weapon of mass destruction in connection with the June 19 embassy bomb scare in Thailand.

FBI spokeswoman Cheryl Mimura said he could face additional charges if a federal grand jury is impaneled next week.

The Thai government has arrested three alleged co-conspirators and issued a warrant for Vo, whom it describes as the mastermind of the plot.

The bombs--one thrown inside the gate and the other placed just outside the gate--were connected to mobile phones that were to function as remote detonation devices. The bombs were discovered and detonated by police and no damage was done.

FBI officials did not link Vo to a specific anti-communist organization. But the leader of the Garden Grove-based Government of Free Vietnam said Saturday that Vo has been a field representative for the group since 1995.

Nguyen Huu Chahn stressed that his group did not sanction the embassy incident, which he said was designed not to blow up the building but simply to be a “bomb scare.”

Police in Thailand have speculated that the embassy incident was retaliation after 37 political activists supported by the Government of Free Vietnam were accused of anti-government activities by Vietnam’s security force.

Vo, who left Vietnam by boat in 1976, has four daughters and a wife, and was reportedly visiting them and other relatives in Seattle immediately before his arrest.

Nguyen said Vo was a naturalized citizen, but lived only several weeks a year in the United States. When he wasn’t in the country, he was working as a representative for the organization in Southeast Asia, Nguyen said.

Government authorities in Thailand and the Philippines claim that Vo is also a prime suspect in a failed arson assault and bombing at Vietnamese embassies in London and Manila.

Nguyen said those claims were untrue.

Nguyen also expressed outrage at Vo’s arrest.

“The Communists are the ones who are terrorists. They’re the ones who put people in jail and lock them up for no reason,” he said.

The Government of Free Vietnam has long been a controversial organization within Orange County’s Vietnamese community. Founded seven years ago, the group claims to have thousands of members across the globe and broadcasts Radio Free Vietnam in Southeast Asia.

But some accuse the organization of exaggerating its size and importance.

Some community activists say the group is too zealous and that its tactics have not proven effective.