General Wanlop Rugsanaoh – Bernama photo
PHUKET (Jan 15): Thailand today refuted claims that three Thais suspected to be insurgents handed over by the Malaysian government is linked to the peace dialogue held in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week.
Thai media on Saturday reported the handover of the trio on Wednesday (Jan 12), the second day of the peace dialogue meeting. The three with criminal records were detained near Durian Burung, in Kedah state last month.
The chief negotiator of southern Thailand peace talk General Wanlop Rugsanaoh said the handover is due to the cooperation in extradition between the two countries, and had nothing to do with the peace dialogue held in Kuala Lumpur.
He said this during a press conference here today.
The three suspects with various criminal records and links with militant groups in the south were in the wanted list in Thailand.
On Jan 11 and 12, the south Thailand face-to-face peace talks that was deferred for almost two years now due to the Covid-19 pandemic, resumed for the first time in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Wanlop and the most influential armed group in south Thailand, the National Revolution Front (BRN) headed by Anas Abdulrahman, attended the two-day talks. The talks were facilitated by former inspector general of police Tan Sri Rahim Mohd Noor who represented the Malaysian government. – Bernama