By Thai Newsroom Reporters
TEN CHINESE-MADE drones recently bought by de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra for the Thai army could potentially be detected and tracked by ground-based drone locators and jeopardise positions of the drone operators.
The DJI drones donated by the court-suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s father to Thailand’s Second Army Area are generally known as unmanned aerial vehicles for commercial and photography purposes which might probably be detected and tracked by Cambodian ground forces, rendering the drone operators vulnerable to aerial attacks.
The 10 Chinese-made drones purchased for a combined cost of three million baht have raised concerns on social media over security of the Thai army units which might use them for reconnaissance missions along the disputed Thai-Cambodian border, given the capability of the Chinese-made drone locators used by the Cambodian forces in tracking and locating the Thai drone operators.
Thailand has been prohibiting all drones in commercial and private uses from flying over Thai air space for the time being in the wake of border tensions, particularly in northeastern provinces of Ubon Ratchathani, Sisaket, Surin and Buriram where clashes had occurred between the Thai and Cambodian forces.
Many drones allegedly operated by the Cambodian ground forces were spotted flying on reconnaissance or surveillance missions over Thai air space in those border provinces and elsewhere in the interiors of Thailand whereas security officials and vigilantes were advised to immediately deactivate or destroy them.
In addition to those spy drones, the Cambodian forces were believed to have a number of Chinese-made drones with a payload of bombs which might possibly be used against military and civilian targets in Thailand.
The de facto Pheu Thai boss who had quietly fostered three decades of personal and family ties with Cambodian leader Hun Sen whose son Hun Manet currently runs Cambodia as head of government was not considered by the Thai public as an unreliable, suspicious person due to his vested interests intertwined with bilateral relationships between the two neighbouring countries.
Neither was his embattled daughter Paetongtarn who has been suspended by court from performing her prime-ministerial duties pending a court verdict on an impeachment lawsuit filed against her following a leaked telephone conversation between Hun Sen and herself about the unresolved border conflict which was allegedly tantamount to perpetrating an overly submissive, naive conduct in severe breach of the ethical code and in lack of evident honesty.
Remarkably, Paetongtarn’s father had earlier pushed for a joint, offshore natural resources development project in the Gulf of Thailand over which Cambodia has unilaterally claimed territorial integrity, overlapping a maritime area around Koh Kud island off the eastern Thai province of Trat.
CAPTIONS:
Top: A DJI Phantom 3 drone flies during a drone demonstration at a farm and winery, on June 11, 2015 in Cordova, Maryland, United States. File photo: AP/Alex Brandon and published by CNA
Insert: Senior Thai army officers receiving the 10 drones de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra donated. Photo: Thai Rath
Front Page: A Chinese-made DJI Mavic Zoom drone flies during a product launch in New York in 2018. Photo: AFP/Drew Angerer and published by CNA
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