REPORTER: Ginny Stein
It's early morning on the Tak Bai lagoon. This quiet spot is the front line in a Muslim insurgency that has claimed close to 800 lives in the past 18 months.
Police Colonel Sommai Puttakul is chief of the Tak Bai police. The insurgency targets mainly the security forces and government employees, so he knows how important it is to speak softly and carry a big stick.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): We need to stay alert at all times. These guns with dual magazines will be much quicker and more convenient to use.
The Police Chief has agreed to give Dateline unprecedented access to operations here. The Thai Government has been accused of brutality in its attempts to crush separatists so Police Chief Sommai is eager to show the professional face of his security forces.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Everything we do, they will see and film it. We're already doing well, but I'd like to ensure that what they film looks good and we can impress everyone, including our commander.
But this is the most infamous police station in Thailand's troubled south. It will take a lot more than good PR to wipe away memories of the 85 people killed here late last year. In October a crowd of about 1,000 Muslim demonstrators gathered outside the Tak Bai police station. They called for the release of six men being held inside, and some tried to storm the station.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): This is my area, just like my home and I take care of it. And now there is someone trying to attack and destroy it. They are ripping it to pieces.
Security forces fired live ammunition into the crowd, killing six. More than a thousand others were rounded up, beaten and piled layer upon layer, like human logs, inside trucks. They were supposed to be transported to military camps for questioning. But 78 died of suffocation. Police Chief Sommai says that his men were not responsible.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): I have a staff of around 100 men who listen to and obey my orders. But with the other 1,000 men who came here, like the soldiers or the Border Patrol police, they take orders from their own commanders. So we can only do that which is within our power.
Police are continuing to work on building a case against 53 men it says were leaders of the fatal demonstration. At the same time they're fighting a very real insurgency.
REPORTER: Do you really know who your enemy is here?
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): No, we do not call them the enemy. They are outlaws, or those wanted by the government. It's propagandist. They are trying to lure and trick our people into wrongdoing. They are trying to create chaos and disrupt us.
And the unseen outlaws continue to spread chaos - a low-scale but relentless campaign of shootings, bombings and beheadings.
A few days after I arrived in Tak Bai, a bomb was discovered at a building directly behind the police station. To try and ensure it isn't detonated, the bomb squad call in a truck with equipment that jams mobile phone signals.
Then they set about defusing the bomb - a fire extinguisher packed with gunpowder and urea. It's a highly explosive mix, designed to frighten and maim rather than cause mass destruction.
JARAN KAEWKEREE, TRAFFIC POLICEMAN, (Translation): We don't know exactly when the bomb was planted. From the timer, it was set for 12:00. But we don't know if it was midday or midnight, from how it was set.
This bomb was successfully defused but another found on the same day went undetected and detonated. There were no injuries. Bomb squad inspector Anand Suwannapesat says he's dealing with people who know what they're doing.
ANAND SUWANNAPESAT, BOMB SQAD INSPECTOR, (Translation): They are professionals. Judging from how the bomb was made, how it was planted, it must have been done by professionals.
This is Police Chief Sommai's worst fear. Until recently most bombings in this conflict were small-scale. But this explosion in a nearby border city at the beginning of the year marked a dramatic escalation. For the first time a car bomb was used. Padung Wannalac is a freelance cameraman who has been working in the south for the past 10 years. He believes this bombing represented a major shift in tactics by the insurgents.
PADUNG WANNALAC, FREELANCE CAMERAMAN, (Translation): We'd never seen anything like this, neither had the government authorities. This tactic is usually used overseas. For Thailand this was the first time. These days they target public areas, innocent people - children, women, the elderly. Their purpose is to create loss of lives more than just make loud noises.
It's at night that the unseen enemy often strikes. After dark, the people of Tak Bai retreat indoors and the police sit and wait. It's rare that they have to wait for long.
Tonight, Chief Sommai receives news of a mysterious shooting.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Have you found the location yet?
ANSWER, (Translation): We've not found it yet, but we know that it was in the middle of the paddy field.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Who took the victim to hospital?
ANSWER, (Translation): We don't know but the victim's motorcycle has been taken back home.
The police chief decides to visit the hospital where the victim was taken. Before he leaves, Chief Sommai puts on a Buddhist amulet which he believes protects him from evil.
When we arrive, Chief Sommai looks for the wounded man but learns that already he's been transferred to a better-equipped regional hospital half an hour away. We head out to the scene of the crime.
First stop is the checkpoint closest to the shooting. There are police and military checkpoints on all roads leading to the border with Malaysia. Even though Chief Sommai has only been on the case for a couple of hours, he's already decided that the shooting has nothing to do with the insurgency.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): There was a shooting, this is an ordinary shooting, a private matter. From our initial investigation, we know who did it. Now the police are chasing him. They'll soon find him and make an arrest.
But after making my own enquiries, I discovered that navy conscript Sama-air Cheukuseng was probably shot not as a result of a personal matter, but because of his close military ties. His brother told me that on the night Cheukuseng was shot he was returning from the local army base having picked up a certificate marking the completion of his training as a volunteer guard.
While the brother of the shot man refused to be filmed by Dateline, he was prepared to show his brother's identification card to back his claims. When I asked why he was prepared to speak and give his name, but not be filmed, he said it was because he too had been shot on New Year's Eve last year.
Police now admit they are continuing investigations.
Today Chief Sommai is carrying out a routine inspection along the river which marks the border between Thailand and Malaysia. The Thai Government has long alleged that insurgents on its wanted list are harboured in neighbouring Malaysia.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): If you cross over there, that counts as part of Malaysia. No need to go too far. Close to the border, youre in Malaysia.
Chief Sommai is frustrated at the lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries, and wants to restrict movement across the border. But he knows that this would only fuel more mistrust and anger among Thai Muslims. In many ways this river marks an artificial divide.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Look, they live on the bank of the river like this. When they cross over here, they dress just like us Thais. There is not much difference in terms of the two cultures. People on that side are Muslim, as are those from this side. Most of them, anyway. Only those Thai Buddhists can tell the difference. Sometimes the local leaders from that side will cross over for a drink and a chat with the Thais over here. Sometimes they talk or even work together. They are in regular contact.
Later, the police chief makes a surprise visit to one of the temples on his beat. There have been problems here in the past year - threats have been made by local Muslim youths.
PHRAKRU PATARAT TAMMATANEE, (Translation): They threatened us by pretending to shoot at us. When we looked outside they went like this, they even made a shooting noise with their mouths.
Although Police Chief Sommai denies this is a religious conflict, it's clear that prejudice towards Muslims runs deep in southern Thailand.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Their families have many children. They don't take good care of their kids. They aren't close to their kids, unlike Thai Buddhists. They have seven or eight children. They don't know what they're up to. Some take drugs or something. They don't know about it. They don't have birth control. They can't use birth control because it's a sin.
That night I followed the police out to a village where they're arming and training volunteer guards. They too have become targets, singled out for defending themselves as supporters of the government.
CHOK SAOPON, VILLAGE GUARD (Translation): I am worried, I try to tell my friends who are volunteers with me to be careful. Every time we start or finish a shift.
But this is a Buddhist village - nationalist passions run deep, as does contempt for Muslim separatists.
CHOK SAOPON, VILLAGE GUARD (Translation): At times like this we cant foresee or predict anything, we must at least be prepared to fight. We cant just hand it over to them, we cant let that happen and just disappear or go quietly without fighting. That cant be right.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Our opponents are trying to get people on their side. As are we. It's like a race, a rivalry between the terrorists and our government officers. Trying to get people to join us. That's what we do now.
Officials deny this is a religious conflict, but there is no doubt that there is a deepening mistrust between Muslims and Thailand's majority Buddhist population. As for Chief Sommai, he knows he works a dangerous beat, but he's convinced he's on the winning side.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Of course the government is winning. Just think about it. Do you think that these areas belong to Thailand? They do. And Im a government officer of Thailand. I'm a Thai police officer.
GEORGE NEGUS: And this week, Canberra re-issued its warning that Australian travellers should avoid Thailand's three most southern provinces.
It's early morning on the Tak Bai lagoon. This quiet spot is the front line in a Muslim insurgency that has claimed close to 800 lives in the past 18 months.
Police Colonel Sommai Puttakul is chief of the Tak Bai police. The insurgency targets mainly the security forces and government employees, so he knows how important it is to speak softly and carry a big stick.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): We need to stay alert at all times. These guns with dual magazines will be much quicker and more convenient to use.
The Police Chief has agreed to give Dateline unprecedented access to operations here. The Thai Government has been accused of brutality in its attempts to crush separatists so Police Chief Sommai is eager to show the professional face of his security forces.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Everything we do, they will see and film it. We're already doing well, but I'd like to ensure that what they film looks good and we can impress everyone, including our commander.
But this is the most infamous police station in Thailand's troubled south. It will take a lot more than good PR to wipe away memories of the 85 people killed here late last year. In October a crowd of about 1,000 Muslim demonstrators gathered outside the Tak Bai police station. They called for the release of six men being held inside, and some tried to storm the station.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): This is my area, just like my home and I take care of it. And now there is someone trying to attack and destroy it. They are ripping it to pieces.
Security forces fired live ammunition into the crowd, killing six. More than a thousand others were rounded up, beaten and piled layer upon layer, like human logs, inside trucks. They were supposed to be transported to military camps for questioning. But 78 died of suffocation. Police Chief Sommai says that his men were not responsible.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): I have a staff of around 100 men who listen to and obey my orders. But with the other 1,000 men who came here, like the soldiers or the Border Patrol police, they take orders from their own commanders. So we can only do that which is within our power.
Police are continuing to work on building a case against 53 men it says were leaders of the fatal demonstration. At the same time they're fighting a very real insurgency.
REPORTER: Do you really know who your enemy is here?
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): No, we do not call them the enemy. They are outlaws, or those wanted by the government. It's propagandist. They are trying to lure and trick our people into wrongdoing. They are trying to create chaos and disrupt us.
And the unseen outlaws continue to spread chaos - a low-scale but relentless campaign of shootings, bombings and beheadings.
A few days after I arrived in Tak Bai, a bomb was discovered at a building directly behind the police station. To try and ensure it isn't detonated, the bomb squad call in a truck with equipment that jams mobile phone signals.
Then they set about defusing the bomb - a fire extinguisher packed with gunpowder and urea. It's a highly explosive mix, designed to frighten and maim rather than cause mass destruction.
JARAN KAEWKEREE, TRAFFIC POLICEMAN, (Translation): We don't know exactly when the bomb was planted. From the timer, it was set for 12:00. But we don't know if it was midday or midnight, from how it was set.
This bomb was successfully defused but another found on the same day went undetected and detonated. There were no injuries. Bomb squad inspector Anand Suwannapesat says he's dealing with people who know what they're doing.
ANAND SUWANNAPESAT, BOMB SQAD INSPECTOR, (Translation): They are professionals. Judging from how the bomb was made, how it was planted, it must have been done by professionals.
This is Police Chief Sommai's worst fear. Until recently most bombings in this conflict were small-scale. But this explosion in a nearby border city at the beginning of the year marked a dramatic escalation. For the first time a car bomb was used. Padung Wannalac is a freelance cameraman who has been working in the south for the past 10 years. He believes this bombing represented a major shift in tactics by the insurgents.
PADUNG WANNALAC, FREELANCE CAMERAMAN, (Translation): We'd never seen anything like this, neither had the government authorities. This tactic is usually used overseas. For Thailand this was the first time. These days they target public areas, innocent people - children, women, the elderly. Their purpose is to create loss of lives more than just make loud noises.
It's at night that the unseen enemy often strikes. After dark, the people of Tak Bai retreat indoors and the police sit and wait. It's rare that they have to wait for long.
Tonight, Chief Sommai receives news of a mysterious shooting.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Have you found the location yet?
ANSWER, (Translation): We've not found it yet, but we know that it was in the middle of the paddy field.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Who took the victim to hospital?
ANSWER, (Translation): We don't know but the victim's motorcycle has been taken back home.
The police chief decides to visit the hospital where the victim was taken. Before he leaves, Chief Sommai puts on a Buddhist amulet which he believes protects him from evil.
When we arrive, Chief Sommai looks for the wounded man but learns that already he's been transferred to a better-equipped regional hospital half an hour away. We head out to the scene of the crime.
First stop is the checkpoint closest to the shooting. There are police and military checkpoints on all roads leading to the border with Malaysia. Even though Chief Sommai has only been on the case for a couple of hours, he's already decided that the shooting has nothing to do with the insurgency.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): There was a shooting, this is an ordinary shooting, a private matter. From our initial investigation, we know who did it. Now the police are chasing him. They'll soon find him and make an arrest.
But after making my own enquiries, I discovered that navy conscript Sama-air Cheukuseng was probably shot not as a result of a personal matter, but because of his close military ties. His brother told me that on the night Cheukuseng was shot he was returning from the local army base having picked up a certificate marking the completion of his training as a volunteer guard.
While the brother of the shot man refused to be filmed by Dateline, he was prepared to show his brother's identification card to back his claims. When I asked why he was prepared to speak and give his name, but not be filmed, he said it was because he too had been shot on New Year's Eve last year.
Police now admit they are continuing investigations.
Today Chief Sommai is carrying out a routine inspection along the river which marks the border between Thailand and Malaysia. The Thai Government has long alleged that insurgents on its wanted list are harboured in neighbouring Malaysia.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): If you cross over there, that counts as part of Malaysia. No need to go too far. Close to the border, youre in Malaysia.
Chief Sommai is frustrated at the lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries, and wants to restrict movement across the border. But he knows that this would only fuel more mistrust and anger among Thai Muslims. In many ways this river marks an artificial divide.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Look, they live on the bank of the river like this. When they cross over here, they dress just like us Thais. There is not much difference in terms of the two cultures. People on that side are Muslim, as are those from this side. Most of them, anyway. Only those Thai Buddhists can tell the difference. Sometimes the local leaders from that side will cross over for a drink and a chat with the Thais over here. Sometimes they talk or even work together. They are in regular contact.
Later, the police chief makes a surprise visit to one of the temples on his beat. There have been problems here in the past year - threats have been made by local Muslim youths.
PHRAKRU PATARAT TAMMATANEE, (Translation): They threatened us by pretending to shoot at us. When we looked outside they went like this, they even made a shooting noise with their mouths.
Although Police Chief Sommai denies this is a religious conflict, it's clear that prejudice towards Muslims runs deep in southern Thailand.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Their families have many children. They don't take good care of their kids. They aren't close to their kids, unlike Thai Buddhists. They have seven or eight children. They don't know what they're up to. Some take drugs or something. They don't know about it. They don't have birth control. They can't use birth control because it's a sin.
That night I followed the police out to a village where they're arming and training volunteer guards. They too have become targets, singled out for defending themselves as supporters of the government.
CHOK SAOPON, VILLAGE GUARD (Translation): I am worried, I try to tell my friends who are volunteers with me to be careful. Every time we start or finish a shift.
But this is a Buddhist village - nationalist passions run deep, as does contempt for Muslim separatists.
CHOK SAOPON, VILLAGE GUARD (Translation): At times like this we cant foresee or predict anything, we must at least be prepared to fight. We cant just hand it over to them, we cant let that happen and just disappear or go quietly without fighting. That cant be right.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Our opponents are trying to get people on their side. As are we. It's like a race, a rivalry between the terrorists and our government officers. Trying to get people to join us. That's what we do now.
Officials deny this is a religious conflict, but there is no doubt that there is a deepening mistrust between Muslims and Thailand's majority Buddhist population. As for Chief Sommai, he knows he works a dangerous beat, but he's convinced he's on the winning side.
POLICE COLONEL SOMMAI PUTTAKUL, (Translation): Of course the government is winning. Just think about it. Do you think that these areas belong to Thailand? They do. And Im a government officer of Thailand. I'm a Thai police officer.
GEORGE NEGUS: And this week, Canberra re-issued its warning that Australian travellers should avoid Thailand's three most southern provinces.