An armed and violent gold shop robbery at a Big C shopping mall in Narathiwat on Sunday has shifted much-needed attention towards security and public safety issues in restive southern provinces.
The robbery at the mall in Sungai Kolok district substantiates fears that insurgent violence in the southernmost provinces might be widening to target business activities.
To meet this challenge, the government must ensure that those involved in such a brazen robbery are brought to justice, thereby restoring trust in its ability to provide security to the region’s population.
It is not the first time that gold shops and financial activities have been targeted in such a violent manner.
Over the past two decades, gold shops in the restive areas of the deep South — Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, and certain districts in Songkhla — have been robbed. Commercial vans transporting cash and ATMs have also been targeted.
In the majority of cases, those behind such crimes were not apprehended. Most of these unsolved cases have been labelled as national security threats, and the robbers have been categorised as insurgents trying to instigate violence and unrest.
Indeed, in the early hours of Sept 1, several ATMs in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani were bombed, with local law enforcers yet to arrest any suspects.
The violent nature of the robbery of the gold shop on Sunday also resulted in a 27-year-old soldier who was shopping being shot and wounded by one of the 10 armed robbers.
The robbers held the gold shop staff at gunpoint before taking jewellery worth 24 million baht, and then managed to get away in two pick-up vans, which were reportedly stolen. During their escape, they scatter tyre spikes on the road to hinder any pursuers.
Yesterday, soldiers were hunting high and low to arrest the robbers, but some security personnel have said they might already have crossed the border into Malaysia.
Politically, the gold robbery is a challenge to the Anutin government, which last week approved its policies and action plans for implementation in the deep South.
Among approved plans is the appointment of Gen Somsak Roongsita, former chief of the National Security Council, to head the Thai peace talks team and resume negotiations with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN).
The government also approved a new three-year master plan to develop social and economic conditions in the restive southern provinces.
However, it is needless to say that the gold shop heist in the business district will further dent investment and business sentiment.
Currently, the army is conducting an investigation into the heist and has been quick to link the suspects to the insurgency, but they should not be doing this alone.
Investigators from the Royal Thai Police should be involved and join in any efforts involving the Malaysian government to help arrest the robbers if they are within Malaysia’s borders.
For the future of the deep South, the security situation needs to be brought under control. It can no longer be a wild territory where crimes such as trafficking and money laundering are rife.
In such an atmosphere, any of the government’s policies, including those aimed at boosting local businesses, will remain just a pipe dream.