Military officers are moving ahead to boost their intelligence-gathering missions in the far South by using drones.
The mini unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are remotely controlled to fly over areas considered too risky for soldiers.
Internal Security Operations Command secretary-general Gen Chatchaloem Chaloemsuk has urged security officers to use the mini UAVs to gather information and for other intelligence missions, Isoc spokesman Col Bunpot Poonpian said yesterday after Gen Chatchaloem met Isoc officers.
Aerial photos and information collected by the UAVs in certain areas are expected to help bolster security operations against separatist groups, especially in the southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.
Residents have opposed the use of drones in the past out of concern they would be spied on.
Security officers must work harder to get the public to understand the government's work, Col Bunpot quoted Gen Chatchaloem as saying.
The officers must give them correct information to quell rumours spread online that undermine the authorities' efforts to tackle unrest, Col Bunpot said.
Meanwhile, two guns and a number of bullets were found in a wood near a football field in Ban Burere in Pattani's Sai Buri district yesterday.
An AK102 assault rifle and a carbine were found. Security officers said the AK102 rifle was believed to have been stolen from a local who worked as a defence volunteer during a militant attack on Dec 21, 2011, when two volunteers in Pattani's Kapho district were killed.
In Songkhla's Hat Yai district, security authorities arrested two more people for suspected involvement in two bomb blasts in Hat Yai district in May which injured 10 people.
The Songkhla Provincial Court approved warrants for the arrest of eight suspects and so far officers have arrested four of them.