Are there Pakistani terrorists in Thailand's Deep South? Are there Pakistani terrorists in Thailand's Deep South?

by herogenaral.blogspot.com
Ref: Asian Correspontdent (update: Oct. 16 2010 - 06:00 pm)

จาก อัลบั้ม Asiancorrespondent

Last week, 15 Pakistanis were arrested in Yala, one of the three southern border provinces in Thailand where there is an insurgency, but also a province where the majority of the population are Muslim. The Bangkok Post:

A bank in the southern province of Yala alerted authorities after one of the suspects tried to transfer money to a person in Pakistan on a blacklist "related to a terrorist group", said Police Colonel Piyawat Chalermsri.

จาก pic: AFP

Unidentified detained Pakistani men walk through the police station in the southern Thai city of Yala

AFP has more:

The detainees, who have been charged with working illegally, said they came to Thailand in September to raise funds to help flood victims in Pakistan.

"We haven't found any link or evidence related to terrorism yet but as this area is very sensitive we will investigate further," said Piyawat.

MCOT:

Four of the 15 Pakistan nationals detained by Thai police in this restive southern province for working without work permits while collecting money for suspicious purposes have been found to carry names similar to those on the United Nations' watch list of persons making suspicious financial transactions, a senior Thai military officer said on Thursday.

Xinhua though has a crucial piece of information:

"Although there are four Pakistanis whose names appear on the U. N. watch list, their passport numbers are different. So, for the next step, it is responsibility of the police, not our institute, to conduct passport inspection," director of CIFS Pornthip Rojanasunand said.

BP: Another important fact is their names "Imran Muhammad, Nadeem Muhammad, Ilyas Muhammad and Jahangir Muhummad" (MCOT). One hopes the Thai authorities are aware that Muhammad is a very common name in Pakistan - unsure whether MCOT or the authorities have mixed up the surname from the given name. Given the passport names don't mix, this could mean either they just share the same name or have counterfeit passports.

Also, the concern about foreign influence in the Deep South relates to foreign money being transferred to Thailand, but in this instance it is the opposite - money being transferrred from Thailand to Pakistan. Given that it makes no sense for them to bring money from Pakistan to transfer it back to Thailand, this means they obtained the money locally. So if, and a big if, they are terrorists, this means locals provided the money to the Pakistanis either knowingly or unwittingly. Am surprised this hasn't been mentioned...