The grenades landed early Wednesday near the patrol boat, which was accompanying four Chinese cargo ships
An unidentified rebel group fired grenades targeting Myanmar soldiers on the Mekong river near the border with Thailand, but missed their target, Thai police said Friday.
The grenades landed early Wednesday near the patrol boat, which was accompanying four Chinese cargo ships that had docked at a pier in Tachileik district in eastern Shan state, Police Colonel Atthawoot Onsub said.
“It was an attack which I think they aimed at the Myanmar patrol boat. The unknown rebel group fired grenades… the grenades missed the target,” the marine police chief in northern Thailand told AFP.
The incident happened near the so-called “Golden Triangle” area, notorious for drugs smuggling.
Chinese state media said last month that Beijing had deployed more than 300 armed police to patrol the Mekong river in boats in collaboration with Myanmar, Thailand and Laos after a deadly attack in October.
Thirteen Chinese sailors were killed on a section of the river south of China’s border, raising concerns in Beijing for the safety of crews and cargoes sailing south through the area.
The Mekong flows through China’s southwestern province of Yunnan into Southeast Asia, serving as a major trade route through several countries including Cambodia and Vietnam.
Four Chinese cargo ships and one Burmese patrol ship were attacked on the Mekong River on Jan. 4, river police in charge of security on the Mekong River in north and northeast Thailand told People's Daily.
Police force from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand launch joint patrol along the Mekong River in Guanlei Port in Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Dec. 10, 2011. [Sina.com]
Quoting a police report, an officer said that the Myanmar patrol ship and Chinese cargo ships near a Burmese dock were attacked by armed assailants in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The report went on to state that the armed assailants fired M79 rockets at the ships, with the first rocket falling in the river and the second exploding near the patrol ship. Due to low lighting conditions at the time of the incident, the patrol ship was unable to determine the source of the attack and subsequently could not offer a meaningful armed response.
The police report concluded that the incident has greatly affected shipping services on the Mekong River.
Although no Chinese ships were hit in the attack, crew members expressed concerns over security on the river.
Shipping services were restored on the Mekong last December after their suspension following the deaths of 13 Chinese sailors in cargo ship attacks on the river on Oct. 5, 2011.
Passenger services restored on Mekong River after attacks in Golden Triangle area
Tourists board a yacht for sightseeing on the Mekong River, which departed from Jinghong, a port city in southwest China's Yunnan Province, Jan. 3, 2011. Passenger services on the Mekong River, known in China as the Lancang River, were restored on Tuesday as the first group of 14 tourists sailed into the troubled waters of the Golden Triangle area from Jinghong and headed for Chiang Saen of Thailand, the local government said. The passenger services had been suspended for four months after tourists were robbed in the Golden Triangle area in
Chinese police Saturday took part in the launching ceremony of the joint patrol of multinational officers along the Mekong River in Guanlei Port
CHIANGRAI TIMES -Three Burmese soldiers were killed during a clash with an armed group of criminals on the Mekong River during an international joint river patrol, according to security sources. The sources said a joint patrol force of Burmese and Lao soldiers clashed with a group of criminals believed to be led by Nor Kham, leader of a border drug gang, yesterday at Ban Don Sam Pu about 20km north of the Golden Triangle, near the spot where 13 Chinese sailors were killed on the river on Oct 5.
The clash took place as China sent armed police on 11 boats to escort nine private cargo ships sailing from Guanlei port in Yunnan to Chiang Saen port in Chiang Rai, with Burmese and Lao soldiers deployed to provide security along the Mekong River. China has deployed more than 300 armed police to patrol the Mekong in boats in collaboration with Burma, Thailand and Laos after the death of the sailors. Thai authorities will join river patrols from Guanlei port in China to the Golden Triangle and they will be solely responsible for patrols from the triangle to Chiang Saen port.
The 13 sailors were killed on a section of the river south of China’s border, raising concerns in Beijing for the safety of crew and cargo sailing south through an area rife with drug warfare and smuggling.
Thai police have detained nine soldiers suspected of killing the Chinese sailors.
The nine officers, attached to the Third Army Region’s Pha Muang Task Force, were charged with murder and tampering with evidence. They denied the charges and maintained a drug-trafficking gang from Shan State in Burma led by Nor Kham was responsible. One initial account says the nine army officers intercepted the Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8 ships as they entered the stretch of the Mekong and found 920,000 methamphetamine pills. When the bodies of the sailors turned up in the water, the soldiers became murder suspects. Pol Maj Gen Sitthiporn Srichanthap, deputy chief of the Police Region 5, yesterday said the case against the nine soldiers had now been submitted to the Office of the Attorney General for consideration. A team of prosecutors and police have been set up to look into the case and they have made good progress, Pol Maj Gen Sitthiporn said. The investigators would still need to question some witnesses in foreign countries, he said.
Three men are arrested and a large quantity of drugs worth over 600 million baht seized from their tour bus in Chiang Rai province on Dec 9. RATTASEEMA PONGSAN
Police have seized more than 600 million baht worth of illicit drugs in Chiang Rai province and arrested five men they believe are connected to the stash.
A team of drugs police seized 1.79 million speed pills and 40 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice”, from a rented tour bus at Ban Lor Paha village in Muang district around 11pm on Dec 9, national police chief Priewpan Damapong said yesterday.
The drugs were found hidden in five large travelling bags.
Three men on the bus _Daochai Kanthadong, 49, driver Surasak Makhiew, 34, and Pichet Muenchaiwong, 22, all natives of Chiang Rai_were arrested.
Police extended the investigation to arrest two more suspects in Ayutthaya province on Saturday night.
Kosol Klinsuwan, 47, and Prasit Kuesui, 47, both from Nakhon Si Thammarat province were arrested at a petrol station in Bang Pahan district, where they had been told to receive the drugs from the three suspects.
A Toyota car was seized from the two men.
Police were following a lead that a tour bus was carrying a large quantity of drugs from the Thai-Burmese border and was about to head to Bangkok through Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district, Pol Gen Priewpan said.
Police were sent to the area, but the bus driver took another route to avoid arrest.
The officers split into teams and one of them later managed to stop the bus in Muang district of Chiang Rai.
Police say the gang had rented the bus from a company in Chiang Rai to transport the drugs from the northern border to drug networks in Ayutthaya.
The gang had been paid 300,000 baht a trip to deliver the drugs and had made similar deliveries a few times in the past. They allegedly confessed they had received the orders by phone from two men to smuggle the drugs. One of the men lived in a neighbouring country, while the other man was an influential figure in Krabi province in the South. Police are hunting for the two, whom the arrested men claimed were gang leaders.
