Keenan met Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, as well as Deputy National Police Commissioner Pol General Srivara Rangsibrahmanakul, to discuss the subject.

“Australia has concerns about IS [Islamic State],” Prawit said, after emerging from a meeting with the Australian minister, adding that they had also spoken about transnational crimes and drug problems.

Prawit’s adviser Panitan Wattanayagorn said Australia wanted to push for closer bilateral ties in the enforcement of laws against terrorism and transnational crimes.

“We have already informed the Australian justice minister that we are willing to cooperate,” he said.

According to Panitan, though Thailand does not have any direct IS problems, it has been closely monitoring the situation and exchanging information with neighbouring countries.

However, Prawit did not elaborate on how Thailand will cooperate with Australia in the fight against terrorism.

“We have to discuss the matter further first,” he said, adding that the two countries might sign a memorandum of understanding in the future.

Srivara, meanwhile, said that Keenan had expressed concerns that terrorist cells might have moved to the region and had shared some information.

Asked if Keenan had warned about anything bad that might happen, Srivara said: “It’s confidential.”

In a related development, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha denied reports that IS members had been spotted in the South.

“We have already investigated this matter and found that the persons we initially suspected were not linked to IS in any way,” he said.