Thai Border Police kills 2 Cambodian cops

[george]

Border police shoot dead 2

Police yesterday shot dead two suspected Cambodian drug traders 300 metres from the Thai-Cambodian border in Sa Kaew province.

Acting on a tip-off, Narcotics Suppression Bureau and Border Patrol police were dispatched to the Taptim Siam conservation forest in the province's Ta Phraya district, where they reported encountering three armed Cambodians who attempted to flee.

The officers reported firing shots at the suspects, two of whom were killed following a ten-minute exchange of gunfire.

Police said they found 10,000 amphetamine tablets in plastic bags with one of the men, initially identified as a Cambodian border patrol officer. A further 2,000 amphetamine tablets were found on the second suspect. The third suspect succeeded in crossing the border into Cambodia.

--The Nation 2004-03-26

[george]

Update:

2 Cambodian border cops killed by Thai border police

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Thai border police fatally shot two Cambodian policemen who entered Thailand illegally, officials said Thursday. A Cambodian police chief called the killings barbaric and said the victims were unarmed, while Thai police said they died in gunfight and were carrying drugs.

The shooting, which occurred Monday in Thailand's northeastern border province of Sakaew, could rekindle age-old animosities between the two countries that turned violent last year.

Police chief Sok Sareth of Banteay Mean Chey province, which borders Sakaew, said the two border policemen entered Thailand illegally to collect a 95,000 baht (US$2,400) debt from a Thai policeman with whom they were doing illegal timber business.

"Although they may have made mistakes, they did not deserve such inhumanity," he said. "They were unarmed, and why was such barbarism needed?"

He identified the two men as Pin Samnang and Mao Mai.

"Thai authorities must find the perpetrator and punish him," he said.

He said the bodies remain on Thai soil, and he was trying to retrieve them.

In Thailand, Col. Likit Suthapinthu, commander of the border patrol police, said the bodies had been sent for autopsies.

Likit said the two men were carrying a Russian-made pistol and an AK-47 rifle, which they fired at Thai police after being challenged.

Thai forces returned fire, killing them both, he said, adding that 10,000 tablets of methamphetamines were found on the bodies. "It was not an ambush. We acted in self defence," he said.

He said Thai police were expecting the two men after being told by two Cambodian men arrested earlier that major drug traffickers were about to enter Thailand.

Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said he was not aware of the incident and could not comment.

--AP 2004-03-26