Fugitive Former PM Yingluck Spotted in London
The former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, sister, of another wanted fugitive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, stirred up social media when alleged pictures of her outside the Harrod’s department store in London went viral. Thai police have identified the woman in the photo as the former PM.
Yingluck fled Thailand after failing to stop a rice-buying scheme that cost the government billions of dollars; she was sentenced to five years in jail in September for absentia. Since she has fled the country, her social media has gone quiet and her location been a source of media frenzy.
The Thai Foreign Minister commented that they knew since September that she was in London and that Thai police have been in contact with their counterparts in England to try and locate her. However, he refused to comment on whether if they located her they would seek extradition due to Thailand and UK’s Extradition Treaty.
The Shinawatra siblings have been the focus of a power struggle of Thai politics for almost a decade, making enemies with the elite and military. .
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