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Russian Federation warns that Islamic State has entered Thailand

The Special Branch said four of the suspects travelled to the seaside city of Pattaya, two to the tourist island of Phuket, two to Bangkok and two to an unknown destination.

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Security authorities boosted safety measures in the capital and many provinces although investigation into the information has not unveiled any such threats.

Mr Wattanachai said: “We’re still trying to work out whether they even came in”.

The press conference was attended by a big crowd local and foreign media personnel following a leak of the police document issued on Nov 27 about the matter.

In addition to the six new ISIS supporters who allegedly entered Thailand, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says that there is definitely a jihadi presence in the region noting that between 700 to 1,000 foreign jihadi fighters in the region.

But Thai authorities said they’d still to decide if the Syrians had entered the state.

The memo asked police to investigate FSB claims that ten Syrian nationals with links to Daesh had entered Thailand with the intention of carrying out attacks on Russians in the popular tourist resorts of Pattaya and Phuket.

He said Immigration Police had been alerted by the National Security Council to examine records of people from Syria entering and leaving the country. A bombing in Bangkok in August left 20 people dead making it the deadliest peacetime bombing in the country’s long history.

A senior security source said Russian Federation appeared to be getting the information from its allies, and that it was the only country that issued a warning on this matter.

In the meantime, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Thanasak Patimaprakorn made known that the document was only a warning, not an intelligence report while urging calm among the public.

Foreigners whose visas were about to expire usually cross the border to the Victoria Point to renew their entry visa to Thailand.

However, Pol Gen Chakthip said there is no IS-related activity in the country and Thailand is not involved in the Syrian conflict.

He did not either confirm or deny possibility that the Syrians, said to have been given tourist visa to visit the Southeast Asian country, might already have departed.

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But he added: “Please be confident… we won’t disregard the intelligence”.

Russians in Phuket potential IS targets, warns unvalidated police memo