Veera was in the province to look into the casino as it was allegedly constructed on an overlapping territorial-claim area on the Thai-Cambodian border, but he was blocked by some 100 locals from doing so.

The locals said that they did not want Veera to cause trouble for them, reasoning that the casino created jobs locals.

Veera wrote on his Facebook page that the confrontation between him and the locals happened just like the Army Chief Commander General Chalermchai Sitthisart had warned him would occur on Tuesday.

Veera questioned whether the group of locals was established with the specific aim of obstructing him from meeting the media and probing the casino.