Five Thai students arrested in Pakistan for trying to smuggle a pistol and ammunition aboard a flight to Bangkok are suspected of having links to local insurgents and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), intelligence sources said.
Thai security officials are questioning the families of the young men, the sources disclosed on Thursday.
Deputy government spokesman Maj Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd initially told reporters that security agencies found the students had no connection with southern militants or the ISIS terrorist group.
However, intelligence sources told the Bangkok Post that two of the five students were suspected of having been trained by or been involved with members of ISIS groups.
Sek: Wants students to be given justice
A 9mm pistol, bullets and magazines were found separately in their baggage during a security X-ray on Monday night as they were about to board a Thai Airways International flight back to Thailand.
The oldest member of the group, Tuan Abdulrosah Loji, is from Pattani's Nong Chik district.
The 28-year-old is an alumni of Ponoh Sasanupatam in Pattani's Nong Chik district and is known for his religious piety.
Mr Tuan is said to be from a poor family and is the only one from the deep South. His mother in Tuyong sub-district's Village 7 was being questioned intensely, the sources said.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a security seminar last month Southeast Asia is a key recruitment centre for IS with more than 500 Indonesians having joined the terrorist group and dozens recruited in Malaysia.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said Thursday the ministry has ordered the embassy in Islamabad to cooperate with agencies in Pakistan under their regulations and laws to ensure the students receive justice.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) open recruits through small, radical groups in Indonesia. The government, along with Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, have outlawed ISIS, but small, radical groups have joined the Mideast-based ISIS, both as fighters and home-based propagandists. (Video grab from YouTube)
