Police will ask their UK colleagues for any information they have on the whereabouts of Yingluck Shinawatra, after yet another photo placed the former prime minister in London.
Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and a companion seen in London. (Photo from @zenjournalist Twitter account and Andrew MacGregor Marshall Facebook account)
Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said on Friday the Royal Thai Police Office will approach UK authorities through Interpol on a hunt for the fugitive former prime minister.
It follows publication of a new picture showing Yingluck posing for a photo with another woman posted on the @zenjournalist Twitter account and Facebook page by Andrew MacGregor Marchall. "@puyingluck photographed outside Harrods in London today after being recognised by Thai tourists," says the text accompanying the image.
Pol Gen Srivara asked police to check with the woman in the picture with Yingluck for information. The woman's dace is blurred to hide her identity.
Pol Maj Gen Tawatchai Mekprasert, director of the Central Police Forensic Science Division, said it is "highly likely" that the picture was not doctored.
It is the second recent picture placing Ms Yingluck in the UK's capital. The first one was on Dec 26.
The hunt for the former prime minister has so far has come up empty-handed, even though police have sought help from Interpol. Authorities have no knowledge of her travels since her passports were revoked.
Yingluck fled shortly before the Aug 25 ruling by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions in her rice scheme trial.
The former premier failed to show up to hear the judgement in the criminal negligence case relating to her administration's rice-pledging scheme. The court then deferred reading the ruling until Sept 27. On that date it announced its ruling, finding her guilty for not preventing corruption and irregularities in the scheme. It sentenced her, in absentia, to five years in prison and issued a bench warrant for her arrest.
