Fugitive former PM expected at Don Mueng airport Tuesday morning
PUBLISHED : 21 Aug 2023 at 16:30
The Royal Thai Police Office has confirmation that fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will arrive in Thailand on Tuesday, as earlier reported, national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas said on Monday.
The police chief said details of the aircraft flight number and the passengers were expected on Monday afternoon.
He did not say which airport Thaksin would arrive through, but it was earlier reported he was expected to return on a private plane and land at Don Mueang airport on Tuesday about 9am.
Pol Gen Damrongsak said the police units involved in his reception would go through a rehearsal on Monday, including planned security measures and arrangements for his transfer from the airport to the Immigration Police Bureau for the authentication process.
The former prime minister would then be taken to Metropolitan Police Division 2 headquarters where a record would be made of his arrival. From there, he would be escorted to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions, to be confirmed as a person wanted under court warrants.
The court would then issue a detention warrant. With the document, Thaksin would then be handed over to the Corrections Department and moved to the Bangkok Remand Prison, where he would be detained pending further legal proceedings.
Police security would be tight throughout the procedures, Pol Gen Damrongsak said.
A large number of supporters from other provinces were expected to greet Thaksin, and police have prepared gathering places for them, he said. There were no reports pointing to possible violence, but police would remain on high alert, he said.
Asked about speculation that former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, his younger sister, would accompany Thaksin, Pol Gen Damrongsak said he had no reports about this.
He said police were ready for Thaksin’s arrival. He would be provided with the same security as other important people, to prevent any possible untoward incidents.
Office of the Judiciary spokesman Sorawis Limparangsi said Thaksin was expected at the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions about 10.30am.
Thaksin would then be taken to a courtroom, with only the plaintiffs and the defendant’s relatives allowed inside. No news reporters would be allowed inside.
Reporters would have to wait outside the fence, and file their live reports from there. TV stations’ outside broadcast vans would be allowed to park on the Sanam Luang side of the court.
The Supreme Court would issue a press statement outlining details of its consideration of Thaksin’s cases after the court proceedings ended, Mr Sorawis said.
Sources said the Supreme Court held an internal meeting to discuss security measures on Monday morning and were to discuss the matter with police in the afternoon.
Thaksin fled Thailand in 2008, shortly before the Supreme Court sentenced him for helping his then-wife, Khunying Potjaman Na Pombejra, buy state-owned prime land in the Ratchadaphisek area at a discount.
Thaksin posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had originally planned to return to Thailand by Aug 10, but a needed medical checkup meant a delay of two weeks.
Thaksin faces prison sentences of 10 years in three cases in which he was convicted in absentia by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions.