Army: Casinos serving as drug storage points

The army suspects Cambodian casinos near the Thai border are laundering money and serving as a storage point for illegal drugs destined for Thailand.

Drug traffickers are thought to be using casinos as a new channel to smuggle goods to Thailand. The drugs could be sent from Burma to Laos and then Cambodia, or produced in Cambodia itself, where they are hidden in casinos, according to the army.

The gangs just wait for the right time to send the drugs into Thailand, its big trade partner.

"These casinos are threatening our national security," said deputy Burapha Task Force

commander Walit Rojanapakdi. The casinos are just opposite the border provinces of Sa Kaeo, Chanthaburi and Trat.

Nine casinos are near the Poipet-Klong Luek checkpoint in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district; one near the Ban Laem checkpoint in Chanthaburi's Pong Nam Ron district; and three near Trat's Khlong Yai district, according to the Burapha Task Force report.

Col Walit said the government had tried to warn Thais against gambling in the casinos, but they did not pay attention to the warning.

"We can do nothing more," he said. "What we're doing now is gathering information on drug smuggling [from the casinos] into Thailand," he said.

Thais are the biggest group gambling in the casinos, followed by Vietnamese, Malaysians, Taiwanese and Filipinos. About 1,000 to 3,000 Thai gamblers visit casinos at Poipet in Cambodia every day. The Chanthaburi-Trat task force suspects some casinos opposite Chanthaburi province are a favourite hideout for criminals.