More checkpoints, border patrols in Thai far South

BANGKOK, August 18 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapa announced Saturday that more security checkpoints will be set up and more border patrol police will be deployed in Thailand-violence hit far South. Although airing his optimistic views that the persistent violence in Thailand's Muslim-predominant southern border region should improve following the end of the annual Muslim fasting month of Ramadan tomorrow, General Yuthasak told journalists that he is requesting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to set up more checkpoints, acknowledging that violence in the Thai deep South appears to be now related to insurgency, drug trafficking and even oil smuggling. General Yuthasak also revealed that he will propose a plan of his southern command centre for the prime minister to approve by August 20, saying that the centre, which will then start its around-the-clock operations right away, is believed to help improve the security situation in the far South within two months, as the centre will respond to southern problems on a daily basis, focus on the integration of intelligence and centralize commands of all security-related agencies at the office of the National Security Council in Bangkok. More than 5,000 people have lost their lives in the Thailand's restive South since January 2004. (TNA)