NAKHON PHANOM, Thailand -- Former Green Beret officer James 'Bo' Gritz, whose Hollywood connections helped finance a mission into the Laotian jungle in search of American prisoners of war, surrendered Monday to Thai police.

Gritz, 44, reported to the police chief of Nakhon Phanom, 390 miles northeast of Bangkok, and angrily denounced 'traitors' for leaking information to the press about his unauthorized search for POWs in communist Laos.


The former Green Beret lieutenant colonel, however, refused to confirm reports he and at least two other Americans had been inside Laos searching for the POWs allegedly held since the end of the Vietnam war in 1975.

Gritz, a highly-decorated Vietnam veteran from Westchester, Calif., led an unsuccessful mission to search for American POWs in Laos last November financed in part by film stars Clint Eastwood and William Shatner.

That mission had no official backing of the United States and was abandoned when the party was ambushed by anti-government guerrillas.

Gritz re-entered Thailand early this year and dropped out of sight, feuling speculation that he was on another POW search mission into Laos.

Gritz, who faces charges of illegal entry and illegal possession of firearms, was accompanied by a prominent Thai lawyer to the police station near the border of Laos and Thailand. He was held for questioning.

While not confirming the raids, and describing his appearance at the police station and before reporters as coming after a 'long walk,' Gritz denounced the source of reports about the alleged mission.

He said recent statements by former Green Beret Chuck Patterson and Soldier of Fortune magazine editor Bob Brown had compromised efforts to investigate whether American prisoners are being held in Laos or Vietnam.

'They are traitors,' Gritz said. 'What would the Vietnamese reaction be once they know about an operation?'

Details of the new mission were disclosed in Los Angeles by Patterson, who accompanied Gritz on the November cross-border foray.

The authorities said last week that police had been stationed on the western bank of the Mekong River between Thailand and Laos, waiting for Gritz to return from the mission.

Police said they were holding the former Green Beret colonel for questioning about a powerful radio transmitter found at his rented house in Nakhon Phanom on Feb. 13, the same day two other Americans connected with the scheme were arrested.

Lance Trimer, 45, and Lynn Standerwick Davis, 26, were arrested at the house Feb. 13 and charged with illegal possession of sophisticated radio equipment capable of monitoring messages from inside Laos.

A warrant for Gritz' arrest was issued at the same time. 'I don't believe they (Trimmer and Standerwick) have violated any Thai laws and I don't believe I have violated any Thai laws either,' Gritz told reporters.