NPOMC providing good care of detained figures

BANGKOK, May 24 (TNA) – Some 150 people, including former prime minister Yingluck Shinwatra, are detained by the National Peace and Order Maintaining Council (NPOMC) but they are well, said Lieutenant Colonel Winthai Suvaree, Deputy Spokesperson of the Royal Thai Army and the NPOMC on Saturday. He said the detained figures will be released within seven days, depending on their behaviors over the past nine years. The martial, currently in place throughout the country, allows detention of a person without a charge for no more than seven days. Lieutenant Colonel Winthai also said some 30 figures have not reported to the NPOMC and they will face legal punishments, including up to 2 years imprisonment and 40,000 baht fine, if they do not report themselves within 4 pm today. The NPOMC deputy spokesperson said the NPOMC also summons 35 additional people, including Sondhi Limthongkul, former leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, to report themselves at the Royal Thai Army auditorium in Bangkok. Lieutenant Colonel Winthai said soldiers on Friday seized large amount of war weapons from a rally site of the pro-government United front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) on Aksa Road in Bangkok’s western outskirts and from Nakhon Nayok, Lopburi, Samut Sakhoon and Khon Kaen provinces. In Khon Kaen, he said authorities seized explosive devices and gas cylinders from a hotel in Muaeng district and arrested 21 suspects. Meanwhile, some 100 anti-coup activists today gathered in front of Major Cineplex Ratchayothin on Phahon Yothin Road in Bangkok to show their opposition to the National Peace and Order Maintaining Council. The activists held placards reading ‘Anti Coup’ and sang songs to show their oppositions to military coup and to call for election. Anti-riot police and soldiers armed with shields were there to prevent the activists from moving to other areas. They asked the activists to end their movement, citing the enforcement of Martial Law. Female-riot police were also deployed to reduce tension in the area. The NPOMC, led by Army Chief General Prayut Chan-ocha, Thursday afternoon seized power from the caretaker government after more than six months of street protest, which have left at least 28 people killed and more than 800 others injured. (TNA)