Personal security has been boosted for the prime minister and key government figures following intelligence reports confirming an assassination plot, acting police chief Pol General Patheep Tanprasert said yesterday.
In addition to politicians, the other people targeted are high-ranking civilians and judicial officials, he added.
New members of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's security detail have been seen. There was a much larger number of both uniformed police officers and those in plain clothes providing security for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at an event at the Thai-Japanese youth centre in Din Daeng yesterday.
Deputy secretary-general to the PM and acting government spokesman Panitarn Watthanayakorn now travels in a government-issued bulletproof SUV and is protected around the clock by a two-man security detail. Only Abhisit and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban, another high-profile target, normally enjoy such security privileges.
In the wake of the rocket-propelled grenade attack on an Army fuel depot last Sunday, police are providing security around the clock at 68 locations, mostly fuel and energy infrastructures, in Bangkok.
Bangkok police chief Pol Lt-General Santhan Chayanont said two policemen stationed full-time at each of those locations were armed with assault rifles and given permission to "adopt ultimate measures" to "deter any threat".
The government's Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) has arrested 16 people in the past week, including pro-Thaksin Shinawatra webmaster Sombat Bunngarmwong and Yong-yuth Thuammanee, a close aide to late Army adviser Khattiya Sawas-diphol. The 14 others are accused of torching government buildings in Khon Kaen and Udon Thani during the red-shirt protests in May.
Pol Colonel Songphol Watthanachai dismissed a statement by the Cambodian police that two wanted suspects - Warisriya Bunsom and Kobchai Bunplod, who had been accused of plotting a bomb attack on coalition ally Bhum Jai Thai's compound - were now in that country. "They can say whatever they want, but an investigation by the [Thai] police indicates otherwise," he said.
CRES spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd said there were actually seven empty fuel tanks among the 11 located in the Army depot in Nonthaburi, dismissing a statement by the opposition Pheu Thai that Tank 6 was targeted by government-hired attackers because it was the only empty tank.
The National Security Council will reach a conclusion by Monday over whether the state of emergency should be extended beyond Wednesday. It will be submitted to the Cabinet for a final decision on Tuesday, said secretary-general Thawil Pliansri.