BANGKOK — Police in Thailand said Wednesday they had arrested 15 Pakistani nationals involved in suspicious fundraising activity and were investigating possible links to a terrorist organisation.

A bank in the southern province of Yala alerted authorities after one of the suspects tried to transfer money to a person in Pakistan on a blacklist “related to a terrorist group”, said Police Colonel Piyawat Chalermsri.

The detainees, who have been charged with working illegally, said they came to Thailand in September to raise funds to help flood victims in Pakistan.

“We haven’t found any link or evidence related to terrorism yet but as this area is very sensitive we will investigate further,” said Piyawat.

Authorities did not say to whom the suspects were trying to send the funds.

They were being held at a police station in Yala in Thailand’s Muslim-majority deep South, where a raging insurgency has left more than 4,300 people dead in the past six years.

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