Fourth Region Army Commander Lt Gen Piyawat Nakwanich has denied that increased monitoring by security forces along its border with Malaysia was borne out of fear that Daesh could be attempting to establish a foothold in southern Thailand. Daesh is the name given to the Islamic State terrorist group.
Thailand has consistently said it has not found any evidence of Daesh infiltration into the country.
“The move to beef up security measures at the border is due to our internal insurgency problem as we have received information on the smuggling of firearms and explosives into southern Thailand by the militants,” he told Bernama recently.
Piyawat is hopeful that the stationing of more troops along the border, especially at the notorious Sungai Golok, which also serves as a natural boundary between Malaysia and Thailand, will put a stop to the smuggling of weapons and the border becoming a route for militant crossing.
As the Fourth Region Army Commander, he is responsible for security in southern Thailand, including the Thai-Malaysia borders.
Besides addressing the issue of arms smuggling, the Thai authorities are also hopeful that additional troops to patrol Sungai Golok will ensure non-recurrence of the May 5 bombing at Kampung Tok Jamu in Sungai Golok, located metres from the narrow river.
Although the bombing did not claim any life, the authorities were alarmed at the discoveries made after the incident.
“They (the insurgents) took the (detonation) wire from our side to that (Malaysian) side and detonated the explosive device from there,” he said on the 6pm explosion which left five patrolling Thai border guards injured.
Thai investigators discovered the detonation wire which was used by the militants to set off the 20kg Improvised Explosive Device (IED) stretching from the explosion site in Thailand to the Malaysian side of Sungai Golok where they believed the militants were hiding.
Part of the detonation wire was also found submerged in Sungai Golok.
Piyawat made it clear that the deployment of additional Thai troops at its border with Malaysia was not in response to a statement about an armed Malaysian Daesh suspect escaping to southern Thailand last month.
“It is a measure related to our internal insurgency problem,” he said.
A statement by Malaysia’s Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar last month had set the Thai media abuzz, in voicing their worry about possible links between the Malaysian Daesh operatives and the volatile region of southern Thailand.
The media fears that the Daesh militant group, facing mounting battlefield defeats amid the shrinking caliphate in Syria and Iraq, is trying to open a new front in southern Thailand by taking advantage of its long low-intensity conflict which has so far claimed more than 6,500 lives.
According to Malaysian police, the escaped 27-year-old Malaysian Daesh suspect from Rantau Panjang was part of a domestic arms smuggling cell and had escaped to southern Thailand with a M-4 Carbine rifle and a pistol.
In an immediate response, the Thai authorities issued a statement saying immigration records showed the suspect had exited southern Thailand and returned to Malaysia.
Thai PM: Terror attack not linked to death of Malaysian IS militant