The Toyota Camry allegedly used to take former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to the borders is illegal as its engine and assembly numbers were undocumented and two police officers were charged accordingly.
Deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said on Friday the engine of the car had been replaced and the Customs Department did not find any document verifying its import.
The modification was also not registered and the two police officers had been using the car without a registration document.
He referred to Pol Lt Col Samit Chai-inkham and Pol Sen Sgt Maj Pornpipat Makboonngam of the Nakhon Pathom police.
Pol Gen Srivara also said Toyota Motor Thailand Co also confirmed the modification had not been documented, indicating the engine might have been smuggled into Thailand.
The two police officers from Nakhon Pathom already acknowledged the charge of smuggling the engine late Thursday night. The offence is punishable by a jail term of up to five years and/or a fine equivalent to four times the engine's price, Pol Gen Srivara said.
The pair were among the three police officers suspected of escorting Yingluck on her way out of the country. The other is Pol Col Chairit Anurit, deputy commander of Metropolitan Police Division 5.
Pol Gen Srivara said that Pol Col Chairit had not faced a charge, pending the examination of DNA evidence collected from the Toyota car and the former prime minister's house on Soi Yothin Pattana 3 in Bangkok.
If the DNA samples match, a charge of dereliction of duty could be filed against Pol Col Chairit, the deputy national police chief said.
The Toyota Camry was seized in Muang district of Nakhon Pathom on the night of Sept 21. The sedan was one of the two vehicles allegedly used to take Yingluck to the East.
Camera footage reportedly showed the car in front of Yingluck's house in Bangkok and there were traces of Royal Thai Police seal stickers on its body.
Police also found two sets of licence plates in the car. The plates, chor khor 5323 Bangkok and chor yor 2123 Bangkok, were legally issued but belonged to other vehicles.
Yingluck allegedly disappeared on Aug 23 as the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions was originally scheduled on Aug 25 to deliver its ruling on her loss-ridden rice-pledging case.
Her absence caused the court to postpone the announcement to Wednesday, when it handed down a five-year jail term for her failure to stop fake and corrupt government-to-government sales of rice from the rice programme even though she had been aware of the irregularities.
