LAMPANG : Lampang provincial authorities have ordered security officials to keep a close watch on an anti-Lao government movement said to be active in two districts of this northern province.
Deputy Lampang governor Suwan Klaosunthorn, who is in charge of security affairs in the province, yesterday said an initial investigation found that members of the anti-Lao government movement were active in Soem Ngam and Ngao districts.
They operated mining businesses in the jungle as a front.
He suspected they might be involved in unrest and unlawful activity in the North, particularly drug trafficking.
Soem Ngam district, especially tambon Soem Khwa, was once a communist-infiltrated area.
Several former student activists of the the Oct 14, 1973 student uprising used the area as their base during their movement and their former comrades still wield political influence in the area, a source said.