Murders on the Mekong hint at shady dealings

For whatever reasons, the Thai police and the Chinese state-run press appeared to have reached similar conclusions that at least nine Thai military personnel were involved, directly or indirectly, with the slaying of 13 crew members on two Chinese ships on the Mekong River last October.

The People’s Daily reported on the visit of Chinese State Councillor and Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu to Thailand, during which he met with Army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, saying that the case would be a speedy one. 

“Prayuth expressed profound grief over the killing of Chinese sailors by few Thai military personnel, and pledged to try, without delay, the suspects according to law and make the trial fully accountable to both Thai and Chinese people,” The People’s Daily reported on its online edition.

Whether Prayuth or anybody in the Thai army actually stated that their personnel were behind the murder, on the other hand, is still murky. Just as ambiguous are the culprits themselves. Thai police were quick to point to a Shan warlord, Naw Kham, and his gang of bandits. How they came to such a conclusion within a day of the incident is beyond anybody’s guess.

Attacks and robberies along the Mekong River, especially the stretch between China and the Golden Triangle, are nothing new. But the murder of the 13 Chinese crew members last October appeared to have been the last straw for Beijing, whose seemingly smooth access into the heartland of Southeast Asia has been obstructed by a handful of bandits. 

Beside Naw Kham, one of the many notorious warlords of the Golden Triangle, Thai police also named Olarn Somphongphan, a Thai suspect wanted for the fatal shooting of a high profile politician a few years ago. That was reaffirmed yesterday by deputy national police chief Pol General Pansiri Praphawat. Naw Kham was detained in Laos two months ago and immediately handed over to the Chinese authorities for questioning.

For the time being, it appears that the Army is riding on the notion that all nine military suspects are innocent until proven guilty. For all we know, the police may have come across some convincing evidence to convict the nine soldiers but chose to hold it high to their chest till a later date.

But at this moment, the public still have yet to see what the police got on these men other than the video tapes that showed them near the Chinese boats that were attacked. 

One reading of the situation was that a group of Lahu bandits from the Golden Triangle had robbed and murdered the 13 victims somewhere upstream beyond Thailand’s territorial water and poured methamphetamine pills on to the boats to distort the nature of the crime. These bandits were working for a Thai fugitive Olarn Somphongphan who, like many other criminals based themselves out of the Golden Triangle. The two cargo boats were permitted to drift down to the Thai territorial water.  And it was at this particular juncture that the Thai military came on the two boats.  

Another reading of the mess on the Mekong was that Naw Kham has long been a proxy of the Thai military – somebody Thai soldiers can turn to so they don’t have to get their hands bloodied. In return for his service the Thai military would turn a blind eye to his illicit activities, which appeared to include drug trafficking, smuggling, piracy and murder along that stretch of the river. In line with this reading, Naw Kham went too far with the murder of the 13 Chinese and thus, had to be cut loose. 

For decades, ethnic armies and opium warlords operating along the Thai-Myanmar border have used as proxies because the two countries do not trust each other and do not want to get their hands “dirty”.

If the Thai police uphold their stated aim to get to the bottom of these slayings on the Mekong, they could very well come across the nexus between the Thai authorities and criminals or warlords of the Golden Triangle.  

The argument that these warlords do not carry out criminal activities on Thai territorial water or land and therefore should not be bothered is no longer good enough. Our military and law enforcement people need to come up with the moral courage to take on these duties themselves rather then depending on shady outfits like Naw Kham.