Former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra has own passports revoked

Former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra has had his Thai passports revoked in the face of allegations that he recently launched a verbal attack against the country, according to a press release of the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Wednesday.

The National Council for Peace and Order had prompted the ministry to revoke a couple of Thai passports earlier issued for Thaksin. The revocation of his passports has taken effect since Tuesday.

Thaksin's recent comments obviously affected Thailand's " national security, reputation and prestige," said the press release.

Thaksin had apparently criticized the military, currently headed by Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha, and certain privy councilors for the May 2014 coup which ousted an elected government headed by his sister, deposed premier Yingluck Shinawatra, it said.

During last week's interview with the press in South Korea, Thaksin said that anti-government street protests had been orchestrated in the Thai capital and elsewhere in the country to press the military to overthrow the Yingluck government last year, it added.

"The military lent an ear to those privy councilors...Then, they staged the coup to depose (ex-)premier Pou, following the previous one which deposed me," he was quoted as saying, referring to Yingluck by her nickname.

Noppadon Pattama, legal adviser of the former leader, said earlier his boss currently holds a Montenegro passport which with he can travel around the globe, besides the revoked Thai passports. Endi