Police travelling on at-risk southern line
By Waedao Harai
Trains were packed as they resumed services to the deep South although with reduced frequency yesterday. Services to the province resumed after they were halted for six days following a rebel attack on June 21.
Long queues of passengers waited to board trains at many stations yesterday morning.
The No 171 Bangkok-Sungai Kolok train was the first to arrive at Yala station packed with passengers about 9.20am.
To guarantee safety for passengers and railway staff, 10 armed railway policemen and security volunteers were deployed on board trains between Hat Yai and Yala stations.
In addition, two to four rangers are travelling on trains between Yala and Sungai Kolok stations, the route which is most at risk from insurgent attacks.
On June 21, suspected insurgents shot dead four people and injured a railway policeman on board a train from Sungai Kolok district to Yala.
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| Troops step up security at a train station in Narathiwat's Sungai Padi district as rail services resumed in the deep South yesterday. Rail services were suspended for six days following an attack by militants on June 21 in which four railway staff were killed. — WAEDAO HARAI |
Passenger Ameenoh Salae said she catches a train every day from Yala to Narathiwat's Sungai Kolok.
While services were suspended, she travelled by van, which charged her more.
She paid 22 baht a trip for an ordinary train as opposed to 120 baht one-way for a passenger van.
Ms Ameenoh said that despite the shooting, she considered trains to be a safer mode of transport.
Army spokesman Acra Tiproch said a helicopter was flying over railway lines in risk areas before trains left the stations.
In Narathiwat, two drug traffickers were arrested and 2,200 tablets of methamphetamine, 10 packages of cannabis, and about 600,000 baht in cash seized in two arrests on Friday in Rueso district.
Russarun Nisareh, 38, was intercepted by police while driving a pickup truck carrying speed pills and cash while Saree Jehma, 41, was arrested at his house where cannabis was found.
Police said Mr Russarun was suspected of being a major drug trafficker in Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani, and had extensive connections with drug dealers in the North.
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