• 
• 
• 

He said a statement by a senior military officer linking the three men to terrorist groups needed further verification and proof.

"There is no information in the defence intelligence service available indicating that [claim]. However, these organisations are ever-ready to carry out their missions [against terrorists] and we have to always be careful about that," he said.

Abhisit said the connection, if it existed, would involve financial aid shared among such groups.

"But it doesn't mean that people arrested for running illegal businesses are always involved with the separatist movement [in the South]," he said. The Department of Special Investigation arrested three Rohingya men in two raids - one based in Chaiyaphum, who is allegedly to be an expert in passport forgery, and two others based in Songkhla, accused of possibly assisting criminal activity.

DSI director-general Thawee Sodsong said Mohammad Ali Hussein had lived in Thailand illegally and ran a human trafficking racket, as well as arms deals for the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) in Sri Lanka. He was jailed in Malaysia for two years for violating security laws there. Thawee said Hussein reportedly produced fake passports for al-Qaeda members living in the US including those involved in the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

The other suspects are Mohammad Babuji and Chubri Arwae, both of whom possessed equipment for document forgery.