Country Reports on Terrorism 2013 - Thailand

Overview: Counterterrorism cooperation with Thailand remained strong. Thailand engaged with the United States on investigations into Hizballah and Iranian activities after security incidents involving both groups occurred in 2012. While officials have long expressed concern that transnational terrorist groups could establish links with southern Thailand-based separatist groups, there have been no indications that transnational terrorist groups were directly involved in the violence in the south, and there was no evidence of direct operational links between southern Thai insurgent groups and regional terrorist networks.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Thailand incorporated terrorism offences into its penal code in 2003, but most terrorism prosecutions failed to prove the necessary element of specific intent and therefore resulted in convictions for less serious offenses. In early 2013, Thailand passed the Transnational Organized Crime Act, which grants prosecutors the authority to investigate overseas transnational organized crime activities, including acts of terrorism.

Thailand's law enforcement units demonstrated some capacity to detect, deter, and respond to terrorist incidents. Interagency cooperation and coordination was sporadic, information sharing was limited, and the delineation of duties between law enforcement and military units with counterterrorism responsibilities was unclear in 2013. Thailand continued to participate in the U.S. Department of State's Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) program and received capacity building training in terrorism prevention, detection, and response. ATA training focused specifically on critical incident response, including canine detection of explosives and police first response to terrorist incidents.

Land borders are relatively porous. In May 2012, the Thai government removed the Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (PISCES) from eight ports of entry and installed a locally developed program. As of the end of 2013, the Thai government continued to use PISCES at its main international airport in Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi, while planning for eventual transition from PISCES to the local program.

In August, Thai courts sentenced two Iranian men, one to life imprisonment and one to fifteen years in prison, for accidentally setting off explosives – allegedly intended to target Israeli diplomats – in February 2012. A third Iranian co-conspirator arrested in Malaysia in 2012 was still awaiting extradition to Thailand at year's end. Separately, a Hizballah operative – who was storing 10,000 pounds of urea-based fertilizer and 10 gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate in a commercial building about 20 miles south of Bangkok when he was detained in January 2012 – was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison in September.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Thailand is a member of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering, a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body. In February, Parliament passed the Antiterrorism Financing Act. The new law designated 23 terrorists, whom authorities claim are closely monitored, but the government of Thailand has not frozen any assets under this law or under UNSCR 1267, 1373, and 1988.

In June, the FATF recognized Thailand's "significant progress" in reforming its anti-money laundering/counterterrorist finance framework. Thai authorities continued to work to address the vulnerabilities the country faces including those faced by a porous border, large scale smuggling, and a growing network of hawaladars – informal value transfer systems.

For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2014 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Regional and International Cooperation: Thai authorities cooperate regionally and with the broader international community on counterterrorism efforts, including APEC, ASEAN, and the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Countering Radicalization to Violence and Violent Extremism: A range of Thai government agencies, including the Southern Border Provincial Administration Center and the Internal Security Operations Command, continued to organize outreach programs to ethnic Malay-Muslims to counter radicalization and violent extremism. NGOs also reached out to communities in the southern provinces to provide services, identify the underlying causes of the area's violence, and provide outlets for peaceful political expression.