‘Find Yingluck and bring her to justice’

Govt order cops after her pic seen in media

BANGKOK: The government has instructed police to track down and arrest fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra so she can be brought back to Thailand to face justice, deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Ransibhramanakul said.

Srivara said the instruction had come from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who oversees the Royal Thai Police.

He told reporters the police were still hopeful they would succeed in seeing Yingluck brought home and prosecuted. “Police are working the best they can,” he said.

Srivara has instructed the officers in the case to regularly seek updates about Yingluck’s whereabouts from their Interpol counterparts overseas and report to him every week.

According to Srivara, Thai police had asked Interpol for up-to-date information before the New Year but were still awaiting a reply.

Police on Friday confirmed the authenticity of Yingluck’s photo taken with a Thai tourist in London although they could not be sure the picture had been taken recently.

Public prosecutors, meanwhile, maintained that their hunt for Yingluck and her fugitive brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, to be prosecuted in Thailand was still active.

Srivara said Yingluck’s latest photo was genuine.

“The Forensic Science Office points out that it is highly likely the photo is not doctored,” Srivara said.

This week, a photo of Yingluck taken with

It is highly likely the photo is not doctored. General Srivara Ransibhramanakul

an unidentified Thai tourist in London appeared in the Thai media.

It was reported that the ex-PM was spotted during the New Year holiday outside a shopping mall in the British capital and she did not seem to be making any effort to hide her identity, nor to have any bodyguard nearby, the report said.

A source said that many Thai tourists and expatriates in London often asked to have their photos taken with Yingluck if they met her.

They would also ask her about her current life and expressed concern for her well-being, according to the source.

Pol Maj-General Thawatchai Mekprasertsuk, commander of the police’s Forensic Science Office, confirmed that the latest Yingluck photo was genuine, adding that thanks to the photo’s high resolution, forensic officials were convinced that it was not doctored.

“However, we cannot tell when the photo was taken, whether it is old or new. It’s because we don’t have the original for examination,” he said. — The Nation/Asia News Network