BANGKOK — Police were looking Monday morning for whoever was behind a forged Royal Gazette announcement that Army Chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong and other armed forces leaders had been removed by the junta leader.
Apirat, who is also junta secretary, ordered its legal team to file a police complaint and bring the perpetrator to justice.
He also ordered that a “war room” be set up to monitor the situation and prevent people from panicking after rumors of a coup that spread Sunday night following the short-lived prime ministerial candidacy of former princess Ubolratana Mahidol, daughter of the late King Bhumibol.
The announcement of her nomination – which briefly turned Thai politics upside-down – ended 14 hours later when King Vajiralongkorn issued a royal command deeming it inappropriate and unconstitutional.
#Coup was topping Twitter hashtags in Thailand shortly before 9am today with more than 1,280,000 tweets.
