Security measures intensified in Thai far South during Ramadan

BANGKOK, July 10 (TNA) - Authorities have stepped up security measures in the Muslim-dominant Thai far South, as the Ramadan fast month begins on July 10. Local authorities, police and officials have carefully searched vehicles and people entering and exiting Hat Yai District, Thailand's southern business hub in Songkhla province, and other southern border provinces to guarantee public safety. Although there has not been any untoward incident in four districts of Songkhla which are adjacent to three violence-plagued southernmost Thai provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, Songkhla police have intensified their security measures around the clock, after they found banners with negative messages in the four districts on Tuesday, assumed to be aimed at creating fear. In Yala, police have conducted careful searches at checkpoints in the Nakhon Yala Municipality and its vicinity and have looked for suspicious vehicles. At the Talad Rod Fai in the Nakhon Yala Municipality, Thai Muslims are, meanwhile, shopping actively to prepare their meals after their daily fast ends in the evenings during the one-month Ramadan, but the prices of most consumer products remain normal. (TNA)