Thai gamblers fiee back to Thailand

More than 300 shops around the Chong Jom border checkpoint have shut down for security concerns even though the post has not been ordered closed by Thai authorities, said chief customs official Phisai Wongsiri.

Sitthiphorn Bangkaew, chief of the provincial commerce office, said local businesses, especially those owned by Cambodians, would suffer if the Chong Jom border checkpoint were closed. The border trade generates revenue of about Bt50 million a month.

In Rong Klua Market in Sa Kaew's Aranyaprathet district, thousands of Cambodian vendors hurriedly packed up their belongings and returned across the border following a report that Cambodian authorities wanted them to leave Thailand immediately.

Some said they had heard stories about a bomb being planted in the market and that war had been declared between the two countries.

Thai gamblers, learning of the Cambodian vendors' hurried departure, left 10 casinos in Cambodia's Poipet district and re-entered Thailand by the Aranyaprathet border checkpoint. Thai casino staff joined them. Hectic paperwork and customs procedures were reported underway all through last night.

At Ta Muen Thom Castle in Surin's Phanom Dongrak sub-district, Thai troops have been deployed in response to an unconfirmed report of reinforcements by Cambodian troops in the area.