Thaksin will be arrested, handed over to Thai Supreme Court once he lands on Tuesday: Sources
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Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be nabbed as soon as he disembarks his private jet at Don Mueang Airport on Tuesday.
PHOTO: AFP
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BANGKOK - Thai police and Corrections Department officials will arrest former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 74, as soon as he disembarks from his private jet at Don Mueang Airport on Tuesday, sources have said.
Thaksin’s youngest daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra said in an Instagram post on Saturday that she will be meeting her father at the airport at 9am on Tuesday.
Sources said police and the Corrections Department have also made a contingency plan in case Thaksin, who is in self-imposed exile, arrives after court hours.
If the former telecommunications tycoon arrives within court hours, he will be taken to the Supreme Court’s criminal division for holders of political office before corrections officials transfer him to the Bangkok Remand Prison.
But if he arrives after court hours, he will be taken to the Police Club, where he will be detained for one night before he is taken to the Supreme Court the following morning.
Sources also said that once Thaksin arrives, he will be apprehended by immigration police and then taken to Don Mueang Police Station to record his arrest.
He will then be taken to the Supreme Court’s criminal division from where the corrections officials will take over.
According to Mr Aryut Sintopphan, director-general of the department, Thaksin will be recorded as an inmate once he is handed over to the Bangkok Remand Prison. He will then be placed under quarantine for 10 days after his records have been taken.
Since Thaksin is elderly, prison doctors will determine if he needs to be under close medical care. If he is found to have a chronic condition, doctors will decide whether he should be detained in the prison hospital.
Once inside the prison, wardens will consider allowing him to be visited by close relatives during the initial period of his detention.
Visits, however, will be allowed only after officials determine there are no communicable diseases in the prison.
Mr Sintopphan had previously said there were 33 outbreaks of infections in the country’s crowded prisons in 2022, according to a report on Thai news website Thaiger. THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
