Thai soldiers discovered a Cambodian soldier’s mobile phone while clearing landmines in a forested border area, uncovering what they claim is substantial evidence of Cambodia’s use of the landmines.
The Royal Thai Navy’s Humanitarian Mine Action Unit was carrying out landmine clearance in the Phu Makhuea area of Surin province on August 19 when they found the phone, allegedly belonging to a Cambodian soldier, at the site.
Upon inspection, officials reported that the device contained numerous videos and photographs of Cambodian soldiers handling PMN-2 landmines. This type of mine previously caused severe injuries to three Thai soldiers patrolling along the border, with some losing their legs due to the explosion.
The videos also included tutorials on how to deploy landmines in targeted locations. Thai soldiers noted that the images and clips were time-stamped, indicating they were relatively recent.
Thailand stated it intends to present this evidence to prove that Cambodia violated the Ottawa Treaty, despite repeated denials from Cambodian military spokespeople that their forces employ landmines.
In addition to the mine-related content, the device allegedly showed Cambodian soldiers setting primitive traps, consisting of sharpened wooden stakes concealed beneath leaves. The Royal Thai Army (RTA) condemned this as a breach of both the Geneva Conventions and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Protocol II.
However, Cambodia-based news outlet Fresh News countered the allegations, accusing Thailand of staging the videos and photographs to shift blame onto Cambodia.
The agency suggested that Thai people in Surin, many of whom can speak Khmer, could have purchased Cambodian military uniforms online. It further alleged that Thailand may have used the uniforms of 18 detained Cambodian soldiers to fabricate the footage.
In response, the RTA Trend Facebook page shared a close-up photograph of a Cambodian soldier named Seng, who was reported to be the owner of the phone. The page claimed Seng had previously patrolled the border alongside Thai soldiers, insisting his presence in the footage disproved Cambodia’s accusations of fabrication.
Thailand confirmed it would raise the matter at a meeting of the Ottawa Framework Convention Committee, which monitors compliance with the treaty. The Thai Ambassador and Permanent Representative to Geneva is expected to attend and present the collected evidence.
The story Phone found at border reportedly proves Cambodia’s use of landmines as seen on Thaiger News.
