Justice Minister
Pirapan Salirathavibhaga (front left) looks on as Vice Adm. Pongsak
Phureeroj presents helmets and vests to Vice Adm. Suwit Thararoob.
Patcharapol Panrak
Thailand’s justice minister handed out 900 combat
helmets and 190 bullet-proof vests to Sattahip-based Royal Thai Marines
personnel serving in the turbulent south and along the Cambodian border.
Pirapan Salirathavibhaga arrived at Prince Chumphon
Camp via army helicopter April 11 to present 500 helmets and 100 vests
to Vice Adm. Suwit Thararoob for troops based in Thailand’s three
southernmost provinces. The Marine Corps commander also took receipt of
300 helmets and 50 vests for forces in border zones in Chantaburi and
Trat provinces, as well as 100 helmets and 40 vests for Marines Special
Unit 182.
Pirapan said the new equipment was to thank troops
for their service and enhance the efforts of border patrols to protect
Thailand’s sovereignty and battle drug smugglers. Marines are working
with the Office of Narcotics Suppression and Prevention to battle
traffickers, but increasingly have been coming under fire, he said.
The justice minister said the gear would also boost morale among
southern-deployed troops, hundreds of whom have been killed during a
separatist uprising that has left more than 4,000 dead since 2001.
