South Asia: Security

Domestic

Tensions along the Cambodia-Thailand border persisted, with Cambodia accusing Thai troops of occupying civilian areas in violation of a December truce. Thailand countered that Cambodia had violated the agreement, describing a recent cross-border incident as an accident. Domestically, a crackdown on cross-border criminal networks continued. Cambodian authorities dismantled a major criminal boss, leading to the flight of fraudsters from a notorious scam compound. This crackdown was linked by the Thai army to subsequent bomb attacks on petrol stations in Thailand that injured four people. The discovery of a new scam center in Cambodia highlighted the ongoing challenge of eradicating these operations.

International

China executed eleven people for their roles in gangs running large-scale telecom and online scams from compounds in northern Myanmar, part of a major regional crackdown. In a related development, Cambodia extradited an alleged scam mastermind, Chen Zhi, to China to face charges. Authorities are also searching for another suspect, Atong Ang, believed to be in Cambodia or the Philippines, as Cambodia repatriated dozens of scam suspects, including groups from South Korea. In security developments, Japan and the Philippines strengthened their military cooperation by signing new security pacts amid regional tensions. Separately, Indonesia received its first batch of advanced Rafale fighter jets from France as part of an air force modernization program.