Bangkok, Oct 01: Thai authorities are hunting for surface-to-air missiles smuggled in from Cambodia, a minister said today amid fears the weapons were destined for use in terror attacks during this month's APEC summit. "Concerning the Sam (missiles) we have discussed it almost every week in meetings of intelligence agencies and we have been hunting them for a long time," Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh told reporters.

Chavalit, who is responsible for security matters, said the search for the weapons brought in from Cambodia, which has a thriving illegal weapons market, had been mounted for the past month. Authorities were monitoring a group believed to be responsible for bringing the portable missiles into Thailand, and they were coordinating with neighbouring nations in the case, he said. "I'm not saying that it's not worrisome, all issues concerning security are very worrisome and require special supervising measures," he said, adding he would call a meeting of security agencies on Friday.

The Bangkok Post said today that there were six missiles on the loose and that they were believed to be similar to one fired at a chartered Israeli commercial jet in Africa last year. Thailand is in the process of rolling out elaborate security precautions to protect 21 world leaders including US President George W Bush at the October 20-21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Bureau Report