National police have not been asked to investigate the whereabouts of fugitive Thai red-shirt leader Wuttipong “Ko Tee” Kottham-makhun, a police spokesman said on Thursday, after Thai media reported that Thai authorities were investigating whether he had fled from Laos to Cambodia.
“[Cambodian National Police] did not receive any request…. There is not any investigation,” National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith said in a message.
General Thaweep Netniyom, Thailand’s National Security Council secretary-general, told The Nation on Wednesday that officials were trying to locate Mr. Wuttipong.
“If there is strong evidence that he is there [in Cambodia] or broadcasting his programme [of internet-radio broadcasts] from there, we will ask the Cambodian authorities for cooperation,” he said.
Mr. Wuttipong reportedly left Thailand for Cambodia in 2014, was charged under Thailand’s lese majeste law, and was linked to a weapons cache and alleged assassination plot against Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, accusations Mr. Wuttipong has denied, the Bangkok Post reported.
The red shirts support ousted Thai prime ministers Thaksin Shinawatra, a former economic adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and Yingluck Shinawatra, Mr. Thaksin’s sister.
