CCTV footage enlisted in hunt for Yingluck
Authorities are becoming more convinced that fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has fled the country as evidence is pulled together from scattered CCTV cameras.
Although there has been no response yet to requests for information from foreign countries, Thai authorities have made some progress tracking Yingluck, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said on Tuesday.
Yingluck has not been seen since failing to appear at the verdict reading in the case related to her government’s rice-pledging scheme on August 25.
Prawit said security officers would be tracking Yingluck using the same methods employed in locating the suspect in the bomb attack on Phramongkutklao hospital in May.
Officers took about three weeks to discover that 62-year-old Wattana Poomaret planted a pipe bomb in a vase decorating a VIP room located on the first floor of the hospital.
Prawit refused to elaborate further on progress in the Yingluck case, saying that authorities would need time to connect CCTV footage from various sources to figure out what had happened.
However, he said it had become more and more clear that Yongluck had fled the country. He could not say how much longer the investigation would take.
Thai authorities have contacted more than 190 countries via the Interpol network, but none has responded as to Yingluck’s possible whereabouts, he said.
Although he is due to attend a bilateral joint Cabinet meeting in Cambodia on Thursday, Prawit said it was still to be decided whether Thai authorities would ask for assistance from Phnon Penh regarding Yingluck’s possible escape route.
He also reiterated that Thai authorities were not involved in, nor had consented to, Yingluck’s escape.