Some Thais in the far South are allegedly helping fund the Islamic State (IS) movement, and investigators are identifying them, a deputy national police chief said on Tuesday.
Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said the Australian police had reported that some Thai people were providing funds to the IS movement, and about 100,000 Facebook users from Thailand had been reading an Islamic State page for more than a year.
The information echoed Thai investigators' reports that groups of Thai people really had connections with IS and frequently travelled to Syria, Pol Gen Srivara said.
Ongoing investigations had already revealed that these people were in the southern border provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala as well as the adjacent area under the jurisdiction of Provincial Police Region 9, he said, which supervises Phatthalung, Satun, Songkhla and Trang provinces.
Investigators had already split the Facebook usernames into six groups for further investigation, Pol Gen Srivara said.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Tuesday that Thai authorities were verifying the information from Australian police and taking precautions and would make arrests when possible.
The issue had a global impact, he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said there had been no evidence of clear connection between Thai social media users and the IS.
He was aware of the reports, but there had not been any evidence of Thai financial support for the IS.
Police were taking precautions, and Thailand was working closely with other Southeast Asian nations on the issue, Gen Prawit said.