Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

and was awaiting extradition to Thailand at year’s end. Two other Iranians successfully fled
Thailand. All the operatives traveled in and out of Bangkok through Malaysia; two of them may
have traveled from Malaysia to Thailand through the land border at least once. The bombs were
similar to bombs targeting Israeli diplomats in Georgia and India during that same week.
There was no direct evidence of operational linkages between the southern Thai insurgent groups
and international terrorist networks.
Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: The porous nature of Thailand’s
southern border with Malaysia remained an issue of concern. At the same time, cross-border law
enforcement cooperation, based on long association between Thai and Malaysian police officers,
remained strong. With support from the United States, Thailand continued to use the Personal
Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (PISCES) border security system at
five airports and four land border stations until June. In June, the Thai government replaced
PISCES with the Personal Identification and Blacklist Immigration Control System (PIBICS) –
an information capture and query system designed for the Thai Immigration Bureau – at eight
points of entry, except Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, for a three month trial
evaluation. Thailand continued to participate in the Department of State’s Antiterrorism
Assistance program.
Countering Terrorist Finance: Thailand is a member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money
Laundering, a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body. Thailand’s 2010-2015
National Strategy for Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism was
developed by the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), Thailand’s official Financial
Intelligence Unit. The strategy called for the legislative enactment of key counterterrorist finance
measures by October 31, 2012; however, widespread flooding and political transitions delayed
the passage of legislation.
In 2010, the Thai government expressed high-level political commitment to addressing
deficiencies that the FATF identified in Thailand’s anti-money laundering/combating the
financing of terrorism regime, and reported taking multiple steps to address FATF
recommendations. Thailand’s failure to pass the amended Anti-Money Laundering Act and the
draft bill of Anti-Financing of Terrorist prompted the FATF, in February 2012, to downgrade
Thailand to its ‘blacklist’ of countries, raising concern about financial transactions in Thailand.
Since then, Thailand has passed the legislation and will be considered by the FATF for removal
from the blacklist from its enhanced monitoring process in June 2013, pending a successful
completion of the on-site visit.
The AMLO’s 2010-2015 National Strategy for Combating Money Laundering and the Financing
of Terrorism specifically calls for enhanced measures to provide for greater transparency and
oversight of non-profit organizations by December 2014. More specifically, the 2010-2015
National Strategy calls for implementation of appropriate licensing procedures, supervision,
monitoring, and oversight in line with international standards. This includes ensuring that
information on the operations of each non-profit organization is publicly available. The Bank of
Thailand does not have regulations that give it explicit authorization to control charitable
donations; however, the Financial Institutions Business Act and the Electronic Payment Services
Business Decree require all financial institutions and non-bank service providers to adopt both
know-your-customer rules and customer due diligence procedures for all clients, and must meet
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