Thaksin to visit Myanmar as planned, but no visit to Tachilek

BANGKOK, November 6 (TNA) - A legal advisor to self-exiled ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Noppadon Pattama, announced Tuesday that Thaksin will visit Myanmar on November 8 as earlier scheduled, but he has decided to postpone his trip to Tachilek town, opposite Mae Sai district in Thailand's northern Chiang Rai province, after a reported assassination plot against him. Noppadon told a press conference that Thaksin has adjourned his visit to Tachilek, earlier set from November 9-10, but he has kept the rest of his itinerary unchanged, including his courtesy call on Myanmar President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw, Myanmar's capital, before departing from the neighbouring country in the same day. Noppadon, who is a former Thai foreign minister, acknowledged that just recently, Myanmar officials arrested a group of Shan ethnic people with their numerous war weapons confiscated, including RPG rocket launchers and explosives. According to Thaksin's legal advisor, the arrested Shan ethnics confessed during a preliminary questioning that they planned to use the war arms to assassinate Thaksin, who was, thus, suggested by both Myanmar and Thai security authorities and his red-shirt supporters to put off his trip to Tachilek for a certain period of time as a precaution for his own safety. The legal advisor noted that Thaksin is also concerned over the safety of his red-shirt supporters in Thailand, who planned to travel to Tachilek for a meeting with him. (TNA)