Tighter security at Govt House
Government House is imposing extra security measures to protect caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin, particularly limiting who and what goes in and out.
The entry and exit for all vehicles is restricted to only one gate, and all vehicles will be inspected, even those bearing stickers for authorised access.The vehicle searches will take at least 20 seconds. A drill involving 80 officers was staged yesterday. Pichai Obayawart, director of security at Government House, said no assassination techniques, such as food poisoning and biological weapons, would be overlooked. "I have instructed the staff to check delivered flowers, messengers who say they're coming to deliver something to senior people, because we haven't been checking them in the past. "From now on we'll ask for cooperation from agencies that deliver things to Government House by asking them to employ the same person to make it easier for screening. "In the past, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration helped by deploying the same regular garbage collectors to work at Government House," he said. Ordinary rubbish cans will be banned and possibly replaced by transparent ones. The Government House compound will be divided into various security zones according to risk. The Thai Koo Fah Building housing Thaksin's office will be declared a special security zone. About 200 security staff are employed and no increase is expected in the near future. Despite all these new steps, there is no absolute guarantee of safety within the compound, Pichai added.
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