‘Yingluck’s convoy seen heading towards Cambodia’

BANGKOK: A convoy believed to be carrying Thailand’s fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra (pictured) was last spotted heading through a military checkpoint close to the border with Cambodia, the junta’s deputy leader said on Friday.

Thailand’s first female prime minister, whose government was toppled by the military in 2014, pulled a dramatic disappearing act last month on the day a court was due to deliver a verdict in her trial for criminal negligence.

She has not made any public appearance since her flight but there are widespread reports she has joined her brother Thaksin, who was also toppled in a 2006 coup, in Dubai.

Thailand’s junta has said it was unaware she was planning to flee — something analysts and many Thais have found hard to believe given the round-the-clock surveillance Yingluck frequently complained of.

On Friday, deputy junta leader General Prawit Wongsuwon gave reporters an update on the investigation, saying Yingluck’s convoy was last seen on CCTV at a military checkpoint in Sa Kaeo province, which borders Cambodia.

“The CCTV footage does not show them at the border checkpoint, it finishes at a military checkpoint at Sa Kaeo province,” he said, without elaborating on whether soldiers at the checkpoint searched the cars.

It is the first official confirmation authorities have made that Yingluck was last seen heading towards Cambodia.