Prayut ‘concerned’ about weapons cache
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on Monday voiced concerns about the recent discovery in Chachoensao of military weapons purportedly belonging to extremist militant Wutthipong “Ko Tee” Kachathamakul.
“The investigation is still ongoing but the thing is, will there be weapons elsewhere?” Prayut said at his weekly press briefing. “The first finding is that the [recently found] weapons belong to the same batch as found earlier. But to whom they are related will be investigated later.”
Last week, police revealed the discovery of weapons that were presumed to belong to the red-shirt figure due to the serial numbers found on them. Wutthipong fled to Laos in 2014 after the coup but his current whereabouts are unknown. There were reports a few months ago that he had been abducted and killed, which Thai authorities have denied.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan claimed last week that the discovery could indicate that the security situation in the country was not yet stable enough for the junta to lift its ban on political activity.