BANGKOK, June 10, 2011 (AFP) - Thailand has arrested three men on suspicion of spying near its disputed border with Cambodia, accusing its neighbour Friday of 'violating' its territory.
One Thai, one Cambodian and a Vietnamese man were picked up in Thailand’s northeastern Si Sa Ket province on Tuesday evening carrying maps with military facilities marked on them, police said. [Two Thai spies are still in a Cambodian jail].
Thailand and Cambodia are locked in a bitter dispute over their shared border that has seen 28 people killed in two outbreaks of fierce fighting this year, and the row has since moved to the United Nations’ highest court.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the alleged spying activities were unacceptable.
“I am confident this information benefits us because foreign countries can see that the Cambodian government is violating Thai territory,” Abhisit told reporters while campaigning in Bangkok for next month’s election.
The suspects have denied they were spying in the area, the police officer who made the arrest told AFP.
Police said they confiscated both Thai and Cambodian maps and mobile phones.
The three are being held in prison and the Vietnamese and Cambodian nationals have requested consular assistance, police added.
Cambodia last month launched a legal bid at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague seeking to force Thailand to pull troops from a disputed strip of land near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.
The court ruled in 1962 that the temple itself belonged to Cambodia but both Phnom Penh and Bangkok claim ownership of a 4.6-square-kilometre (1.8-square-mile) patch of nearby territory.
Cambodia in April asked the ICJ to clarify its initial ruling.
One Thai, one Cambodian and a Vietnamese man were picked up in Thailand’s northeastern Si Sa Ket province on Tuesday evening carrying maps with military facilities marked on them, police said. [Two Thai spies are still in a Cambodian jail].
Thailand and Cambodia are locked in a bitter dispute over their shared border that has seen 28 people killed in two outbreaks of fierce fighting this year, and the row has since moved to the United Nations’ highest court.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the alleged spying activities were unacceptable.
“I am confident this information benefits us because foreign countries can see that the Cambodian government is violating Thai territory,” Abhisit told reporters while campaigning in Bangkok for next month’s election.
The suspects have denied they were spying in the area, the police officer who made the arrest told AFP.
Police said they confiscated both Thai and Cambodian maps and mobile phones.
The three are being held in prison and the Vietnamese and Cambodian nationals have requested consular assistance, police added.
Cambodia last month launched a legal bid at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague seeking to force Thailand to pull troops from a disputed strip of land near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.
The court ruled in 1962 that the temple itself belonged to Cambodia but both Phnom Penh and Bangkok claim ownership of a 4.6-square-kilometre (1.8-square-mile) patch of nearby territory.
Cambodia in April asked the ICJ to clarify its initial ruling.
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