Weapons handed to Muslim insurgents

By Post reporters

Six members of village security teams in Narathiwat who earlier said they had been robbed of their shotguns have confessed to having made up the story, and admitted the weapons had in fact been given to Muslim insurgents.

Their confession prompted Fourth Army commander Pisarn Wattanawongkeeree to ask provincial authorities to review the training of village security members and screen more thoroughly villagers wanting to join the programme. On Tuesday four members of a security team from Ban Khon Yang in Tak Bai district reported to police that separate groups of men had raided their houses and stolen shotguns given to them by provincial authorities.

At the same time, two other village security members in Rangae district told police they had been robbed of their shotguns while riding their motorcycles near an irrigation canal.

The reported robberies coincided with the raid on the Kapho district office and police station. Police suspected an inside job as some of the shots were fired from the same guns distributed to village security teams.

A Fourth Army source said Lt-Gen Pisarn interrogated four of the six Muslim village security members himself, while police questioned the other two men.

The six confessed they had given the shotguns to Muslim militants because they had twice received threats to the lives of their family members.

They admitted having made false reports to the police about the robberies.

A source said a village security team usually comprised nine Buddhist and six Muslim members. The intention is for both Buddhist and Muslim villagers to unite to protect their villages.

The source did not reveal the identities of the villagers and an investigation was being carried out to identify those who had taken the weapons from them.

Lt-Gen Pisarn said he had proposed that provincial authorities responsible for recruiting village security members screen villagers with more care. He said the training period for village security teams should be longer than three days. ''Three days is too short for them to learn how to use the weapons properly and to defend themselves,'' he said.

In addition to village security teams trained by provincial authorities, the army is training village defence volunteers as initiated by Her Majesty the Queen.

During the 15-day training, villagers, both Buddhist and Muslim, are given weapons training and learn basic law.

The army has completed the training of nine companies of about 1,000 village defence volunteers in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. It is now training volunteers for nine other companies.