Security boosted at Aranyaprathet checkpoints

Stricter security measures are being imposed at the main border town in Sa Kaew following intelligence reports that Cambodian soldiers disguised as vendors had infiltrated into Thai soil on intelligencegathering operations.

Three companies of Thai paramilitary rangers were stationed at the Rong Klua market near the Baan Khlong Luek border checkpoint in Aranyaprathet district to maintain surveillance after reports that 80 Cambodian soldiers dressed as civilians had entered Thailand along with 8,000 Cambodian vendors yesterday.

Very few Thai people visited the market yesterday following growing tensions between the two countries while the regular number of Cambodian vendors entered Thailand, making the market full of vendors while short of Thai shoppers and visitors.

Longer queues of Cambodian vendors were seen because Thai security forces searched their luggage and bodies more thoroughly than usual. Thai immigration officials told the Cambodians that the searches had nothing to do with the growing tensions, but resulted directly from a routine but stricter antinarcotics policy by the Thai government.

Meanwhile, Labour Minister Phaitoon Kaeothong said the government was not planning to limit the number of legal Cambodian immigrant workers entering Thailand, despite growing calls from the public and certain media outlets. He said Thai employers and their productions or services relying on Cambodian workers, and subsequently Thai consumers, would otherwise be affected.

Labour and employment offices in Chanthaburi, Prachin Buri, Trat, Sa Kaew, Buri Ram and Si Sa Ket provinces bordering Cambodia have been instructed to closely look out for possible gatherings of Cambodian workers for whatever purposes. There are now 148,120 Cambodian workers registered for employment in Thailand.

In Bangkok, local police are stepping up their patrols and other operations, watching out for smalltime alien criminals and pickpockets who usually prey on victims in crowded events in Thailand during the festive months of November and December.

Caretaker police chief Patheep Tanprasert said police patrols would be intensive at three coming events: Father's Day fair, Phuen Phueng Pha fair and Sillapacheep fair.

Police arrested 206 illegal immigrants in October, including 96 Cambodians and 66 Burmese.