Security authorities have seized nearly 9,000 packets of smuggled cigarettes worth about 3.34 million baht in Pattani province from members of an insurgent group believed behind multiple bombings in the far South.
Soldiers and police found the cigarettes hidden in a rubber plantation in Ban Prang village of tambon Tha Kamcham in Pattani's Nong Chik district on Monday.
The Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) said the contraband belonged to Maruding Binkasem and Gorday Thor, financial members of the insurgent group led by Seri Waemamu and Rusalan Baima - bombers active in the area where Pattani and Songkhla provinces adjoin.
The group ran a cooperative as a front for its smuggling operation and its members had been arrested with contraband cigarettes last year, the Isoc statement said.
The previous arrest led to the finding of a large amount of bomb materials in a mangrove forest in tambon Bang Khao of Nong Chik. A prime bombing suspect, Sabali Jeh-ali, was also arrested last year.
The Isoc statement said the group led by Seri and Rusalan was behind many attacks, including a car bombing at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai district of Songkhla on Aug 31, 2012, multiple bombings in seven southern and central provinces on Aug 12 this year, and the fatal bombing of a Sungai Kolok-bound train in Khok Pho district, Pattani, on Saturday.
The contraband cigarettes were reported to be an Indonesian brand, Gudang Garam Surya, popular with youths in the far South, who smoke them after drinking a krathom cocktail. The clove flavoured cigarettes sell online at 340-600 baht per packet.
