CCTV boosts border security

[george]

CCTV boosts border security

BANGKOK: -- To halt 'rampant smuggling' -- especially of oil -- the government plans to install closed-circuit television at every border checkpoint nationwide in a bid to prevent revenues, especially from oil, slip across Thailand's borders.

Deputy Finance Minister Varathep Ratanakorn said that the 'candid camera' monitors would improve the flow of revenues into national coffers as distant witnesses would inhibit the cross-border slide of illicit exports and the subsequent illegal departure of potenial revenues.

The plan will be implemented as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has ordered concerned government agencies to keep a close watch on large-scale smuggling of goods, especially oil, from Thailand to the neighboring countries of Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, he said.

Customs officials at border checkpoints must improve efficiency,Varathep said. Closed-circuit televisions will be installed at every border checkpoint, along with electronically-controlled x-ray devices for shipping containers, he said.

--TNA 2005-04-17