Police, security agencies prepare plan for Thaksin’s VIP return
The Royal Thai Police (RTP) on Friday held a meeting of security agencies to discuss a plan to transfer fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra into the justice system if he returns to Thailand.
The meeting was led by Pol Lt-General Prachuap Wongsuk, assistant to the national police chief, and attended by representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Corrections, the Immigration Bureau, the Counter Terrorist Operations Centre, and the Metropolitan Police Bureau.
The meeting followed an announcement by Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn, who said on Friday that he would arrive at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok on Tuesday at 9am.
Police expect the former premier will arrive in a private jet and, as a result, they will increase security at the VIP zone at the airport.
After Thaksin passed the immigration process, officials from the Corrections Department will bring him to the Supreme Court in Phra Nakhon district to face the charges filed against him, police said.
Thaksin has been living in exile since 2008, spending most of his time in Dubai, after his government was ousted by a military coup led by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin on September 19, 2006.
He faces jail sentences over convictions for corruption, tax evasion, and abuse of power.
Thaksin and his sister Yingluck, who is also a former prime minister, attended the 72nd birthday celebrations of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on August 5. Photos of the occasion were initially published by Cambodian government mouthpiece Fresh News.
Thaksin has announced plans to return to Thailand several times, but their frequency rose after the general election on May 14 in which the Pheu Thai Party, of which his daughter Paetongtarn is a PM candidate, secured the second highest number of MP seats.
Pheu Thai is likely to lead the next governing coalition, which will include military-backed parties, including one led by a general who was instrumental in the coup that ousted the government of Yingluck Shinawatra in 2014.
