Thai Forces Demolish Poipet Scam and Sniper Towers, Soothing Border Tensions
Thai troops say the threat lurking just 900 m beyond the Sa Kaeo frontier is now reduced to rubble. Two high-rise buildings in Poipet—long rumoured to house both sniper nests and a vast online-fraud syndicate—were struck on Monday afternoon after weeks of cross-border gunfire and scam calls that bled Thai wallets. The demolition buys a measure of safety for border villages, yet it also pushes Bangkok and Phnom Penh to the edge of a wider showdown only days before scheduled cease-fire talks.
One-Minute Brief
• Precision strike at 13:48 Monday levelled two fortified towers opposite Tha Kham.
• Structures doubled as call-centre headquarters and sniper platforms aimed at Thailand.
• Thai army relied on drone intelligence and newly deployed high-energy lasers to neutralise Cambodian counter-drone jammers.
• Phnom Penh denies military use, claims “hotel-casino” damage and civilian injuries.
• ASEAN convenes urgent sessions this week in Chanthaburi to salvage a truce.
Why the Border Fell Silent—at Least for Now
For residents of Aranyaprathet who have spent December ducking sporadic rounds, the loudest blast in years was also the first moment of calm. Burapha Task Force gunners used GPS-guided artillery to punch through reinforced concrete reportedly lined with anti-drone mesh. Commanders insist no civilians were present, citing thermal scans and intercepted radio chatter. Overnight monitoring confirmed that Cambodian small-arms fire from the sector stopped within an hour of the strike.
From Call Centres to Fire Bases
Investigators had tracked a sprawling “Scam Army” inside Poipet since mid-2024. What began as an International Call Centre Complex morphed into a floor-by-floor war room: lower levels for SIM-box servers, mid-levels for crypto cash-outs, top floors for sharpshooters overseeing Route 33. Thai cyber police estimate the syndicate drained more than ฿1.1 B from victims this year alone. Confiscated laptops show operators were ordered to keep the upper decks “sterile,” moving only with night-vision scopes and Kevlar plates.
Lasers, Drones and Quick-Reaction Units
The Monday operation doubled as a field test for Thailand’s new Directed-Energy Weapon system, capable of frying hostile drones in milliseconds. Once Cambodian jammers were blinded, Thai mini-UAVs confirmed target coordinates, and a mobile artillery battery finished the job. Army engineers stress a graduated response: “soft-kill” hacks whenever possible, “hard-kill” munitions when civilian risk is minimal. Civil aviation zones from Buri Ram to Trat now carry expanded no-fly rules for hobby drones; violators face up to life imprisonment if linked to espionage.
Phnom Penh’s Version and the ASEAN Tightrope
Cambodian ministries accuse Thailand of hitting a casino hotel, wounding a Chinese national and wrecking local commerce. State media splashed images of shattered roulette tables alongside claims that markets, schools and temples were damaged. Bangkok counters that the photos show a different block entirely. ASEAN foreign ministers, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, coaxed both sides toward the General Border Committee (24-27 Dec.), but Bangkok set firm preconditions: a verifiable Cambodian cease-fire, joint mine-clearance, and on-site military observers.
Scam Army on the Run
Monday’s strike scattered mid-level ringleaders. Hours later, Thai detectives grabbed “Jo Eng,” a Malaysian-Chinese suspect, while he tried to cross the Aranyaprathet rail bridge with USDT-loaded ledgers. The arrest joins a year’s tally of 430 suspects, including 119 Thais extradited in March and members of the notorious “Gorng Roi Poipet” crew blamed for ฿308 M in romance-investment fraud. Police analysts say up to 70 % of Asia-wide call-centre traffic once routed through Poipet; fallback nodes are now popping up in Sihanoukville and as far away as Tbilisi.
What Comes Next?
Border merchants hope the boom that rattled shop windows also shattered the crime-war nexus siphoning cash and visitors. Yet the army quietly readies rapid-deploy radar, and schools in Wat Wang Mon remain on online-only classes. If the Chanthaburi talks stall, commanders warn that additional weapons depots, communication relays and drone bunkers inside Poipet are already mapped. For now, Sa Kaeo sleeps a little easier—but the cease-fire clock is ticking.
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