BANGKOK, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command, a peacetime military agency, is not only containing threats to national security from outside of the country but inside as well, Deputy Defense Minister Chaicharn Changmongkol said.
In an interpellation at parliament on Wednesday, the deputy defense minister confirmed that the ISOC is and will be coping with any threats to national security which might possibly arise at any moment and posed by varied elements inside the country, such as drug traffickers, war weapon dealers, outlawed influential persons and illegal aliens, in accordance with the Internal Security Operations Act of 2008.
For instance, Chaicharn said, ISOC units in the provinces can legally search any place for hidden weapons or drugs, arrest suspects and seize illegal items as well as coordinate with civilian authorities for related action and law enforcement.
The deputy minister responded to an inquiry raised by Future Forward MP Pongsakorn Rodchompoo, a former deputy secretary general of the National Security Council, about the ISOC roles.
