Thai Army becomes Chalerm's fall guy in Mekong murders

Thai-Chinese bilateral ties have hit some turbulence in recent weeks after authorities found the bodies of 13 Chinese sailors in the Mekong River, the victims of what initially appeared to be a boat hijacking that turned deadly.

Angry Chinese officials demanded a full investigation into the matter. According to Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, the investigation is nearly complete. But some question his determination to get to the bottom of it, or whether such a probe will be conducted in an unbiased manner. 

After all, it is no secret that this government has an axe to grind with the Army, and that the two will be on a crash course for some time because of the ongoing political crisis.

Chalerm is on record as saying that not everybody in the Third Army is a crook, and that the linking of nine Thai soldiers to the murders of the 13 Chinese crewmembers should not tarnish the reputation of the Third Army or its Pha Muang Task Force. 

Chalerm needs to come clean as to how the nine soldiers are linked. Did they board the ship and kill the 13 Chinese? If so, the incident, which occurred some 20 kilometres north of Thailand’s territorial waters, would also be a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Burma and Laos.

According to the military’s initial explanation, Pha Muang Task Force soldiers intercepted two boats as they entered Thai waters on the Mekong River and found nearly one million methamphetamine tablets. They blamed a piracy gang under the leadership of a, for the murder. They accused Shan warlord Nor Kham of hijacking the boats for ransom, and of killing the crew and using the boats to transport drugs after failing to receive the ransom payment.

But this tidy explanation didn’t hold water. Not long after the incidents, officials began to talk, but only on condition of anonymity.

Sources inside the bureaucracy said Nor Kham is a drug smuggler and has carried out attacks on cargo ships on the Mekong River, but was also an informant for Thailand’s Third Army, who tolerated his illicit activities in exchange for intelligence.

According to the sources, Nor Kham’s people tipped off the Army about drugs coming into Thai waters on the two Chinese ships.

The Army fell for it and sent men to intercept the boats and found nearly one million meth tablets – and one dead body. Soon afterwards, 12 more bodies would surface, floating on the Mekong River. Apparently, the person who tipped off the Thai Army didn’t say anything about the killings, the sources said.

Chalerm, they said, was quick to capitalise on the soldiers’ gullibility, and the result is charges against nine soldiers, some of them officers. Thai soldiers who thought they were going to get some quick and easy brownie points for an instant drug bust find themselves suspects in 13 gruesome murders of Chinese citizens.

The use of proxies is nothing new in Golden Triangle politics. Thailand and Burma – as well as China – have used ethnic armies and armed groups to do their bidding in this rugged region, where everybody plays for keeps. 

Burma has used the Wa army against the Thais, while Thai authorities have used armed Karen and Shan groups to wage proxy war against the Burmese. 

The use of people like Nor Kham was deemed necessary to keep Thailand from getting blood on its hands. But with the killings of the 13 Chinese, these pirates of the Mekong may have outlived their usefulness; hence the decision to single him out.

Chalerm has vowed to get to the bottom of the incident. But few believe he has the courage to tell the whole truth. The same lack of courage is on display in the Army. Will its leadership be willing to admit that their people have direct dealings with the likes of Nor Kham? 

As Beijing breathes down its neck, it seems the government’s strategy at this point is to save its own skin and have the Army take the fall. The charges against the nine soldiers will likely be dismissed as there is no solid evidence against them. But that won’t remove other allegations that could serve to keep a spotlight trained on Thailand’s dubious activities in the Golden Triangle. It’s the kind of topic nobody wants to talk about, but we must if we wish to get to the bottom of this gruesome murder and fully understand the security challenges of the region.