Fresh Mines at Ban Nong Ri Threaten Farmers and Traders
Life along Thailand’s quiet eastern frontier has been anything but calm lately. Rising reports of newly-planted anti-personnel mines, a flurry of military clearance teams on the ground and a war of words with Phnom Penh have thrust Ban Nong Ri, a tiny border hamlet in Trat province, into the national spotlight.
Why Ban Nong Ri matters to local residents
The village—also known to soldiers as Ban Sam Lang—sits a mere 300 m from the Cambodian border and straddles one of the few natural passes through the Cardamom Mountains. For farmers hauling cassava or rubber to market and for traders heading toward Chanthaburi, the route is indispensable. That makes the discovery of fresh PMN-2 mines, modified tank mines, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) deeply alarming. Every new detonation forces the Navy to expand restricted zones, cutting villagers off from plantations, water sources and cross-border commerce.
What the Navy discovered this month
Rear Adm Parach Rattanaichaiyapan, speaking for the Navy, confirmed that over the last two weeks of clearance work the Humanitarian Demining Unit under the Chanthaburi-Trat Border Defence Command located:
• 16 adapted blast mines wired for anti-personnel use inside a concealed storehouse;
• 2 brand-new PMN-2 discs with intact fuzes only metres from a patrol path;
• A hand-drawn minefield map ring-fencing the former Cambodian outpost;
• Training manuals in Khmer detailing step-by-step laying procedures dated 7 Oct 2024.
Officers insist the items show “recent handling.” Rubber seals are supple, detonation sleeves un-corroded, and serial numbers correspond to lots manufactured after 2015—well after Cambodia and Thailand jointly declared the strip “mine-free” under the Ottawa Convention.
The evidence at the heart of the accusation
Thai analysts point to eight converging data points:
Pristine components lack the rust typical of legacy ordnance left from the 1980s conflict.
Uniform PMN-2 markings match Cambodia’s residual training stock declared to the UN (3,700 mines).
GPS tags on the confiscated map overlap perfectly with scars in the terrain created during Cambodian Army roadworks last year.
Thai casualties—eight amputations since July 2025—cluster around those coordinates.
Video footage presented to the UN shows Cambodian engineers rehearsing PMN-2 deployment.
No Thai-produced mines of this model have been in service for decades.
Ottawa compliance logs list no authorised live-fire exercises near Ban Sam Lang.
Modified tank mines reveal wiring schemes taught in Cambodian sapper manuals but absent from Thai doctrine.
Together, Thai officers argue, the dossier amounts to a “systematic pattern of fresh emplacement.”
Cambodia’s rebuttal and the diplomatic chessboard
Phnom Penh’s response has been swift and indignant. The Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA) calls the allegations “politically motivated,” contending that every device found is “a relic of earlier wars.” The foreign ministry has even demanded a joint investigation with neutral experts, accusing Bangkok of publicising unverified claims before exhausting the quiet channels of the Regional Border Committee (RBC). Cambodia also notes its own status as a global poster-child for demining, hosting HALO Trust and MAG projects that have cleared more than 2,470 km² of contaminated land since 1993.
Thai diplomats counter that joint inspections were proposed in August 2025 and received no formal reply. Last week the foreign minister phoned the UN Secretary-General and Japan’s top envoy—Tokyo currently chairs the Ottawa Convention conference of parties—asking them to activate Article 8’s fact-finding mechanism. Bangkok wants an independent panel on the ground before the Songkran holidays.
Humanitarian toll along the Trat–Chanthaburi frontier
Statistics compiled by provincial hospitals show a worrying trend:
• 43 explosive remnants unearthed in 2025 alone, versus 27 in 2024.
• 9 military and 3 civilian injuries recorded since July 2025; 6 resulted in amputations.
• 400,000 m² of farmland now cordoned off, impacting roughly 1,200 residents.
Local leaders in Chum Rak and Khlong Yai complain of dwindling tourism at coastal homestays and mounting costs for alternative transport routes that bypass restricted zones. Rubber prices fell 5 % after buyers flagged the area as “risk-loaded.”
What comes next: clearance timeline and regional cooperation
The Navy projects that full clearance of Ban Nong Ri and adjacent Ban Cham Rak will run through April 2026, assuming dry-season access holds. Parallel talks within ASEAN’s Political-Security Community may see Thailand, Cambodia, and Singapore—the bloc’s demining technology leader—launch a pilot “border bubble” verification mission using drones and ground-penetrating radar. Relief groups want the plan expanded to include victim assistance funds, arguing that medical-evacuation costs in rural Trat can top ฿450,000 per casualty.
Key takeaways for people in Thailand
– Freshly laid mines—not just relics—are disrupting livelihoods on our eastern edge.– The dispute is now on the UN’s radar, potentially escalating if neutral inspectors are blocked.– Clearance will stretch well into 2026; expect intermittent road closures and troop movements.– Traders and travellers should monitor Navy advisories and local amphoe announcements before using back-country routes.– Ultimately, the standoff tests the credibility of the Ottawa Convention in Southeast Asia—and Thailand’s determination to keep its borders safe.
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