Another suspect has been arrested in Chon Buri province for allegedly making and distributing T-shirts for the "Thai Federation" rebel movement, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon confirmed yesterday.
He said the authorities in Laos were also looking for people linked to the movement.
Jinda Achariyasilp, a 55-year-old dessert vendor in Chon Buri, was apprehended on Wednesday at her home in tambon Nong Bon Daeng of Ban Bung district with 16 T-shirts bearing the emblem of the movement, white and red ribbons, and fabrics needed to produce the emblem in large numbers.
She also had a list of T-shirt deliveries, 10 unaddressed parcels, and script drafts for phone-ins to a programme run by a man known as Lung Sanam Luang, believed to lead the republican movement.
Officials said the woman had delivered T-shirts to members in Chon Buri and nearby provinces and had joined a "Thai Federation" group in the Line chat application.
They said Ms Jinda confessed to joining the movement and producing the T-shirts for sale to other people in the same group chat. She was taken to the 11th Military Circle in Bangkok for further interrogation.
She admitted to following Lung Sanam Luang, a man propagating a Thai Federation idea in videos, since late last year on YouTube.
The rebel movement uses social media to spread the idea of a federal republic, Gen Prawit said earlier this week.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has stressed that the constitution stipulates Thailand is an indivisible kingdom and any effort to establish a "Thai Federation" goes against the charter and will be punished severely under the law.
Last Thursday, authorities arrested Wannapa Khamphiphot, a 30-year-old motorcycle taxi driver at her house in Samut Prakan for allegedly distributing black T-shirts with the logo of the group which called itself the "Thai Federation".
She was also taken to the 11th Military Circle in Bangkok's Dusit district for questioning before being handed over to the Crime Suppression Division for further investigation. She was released on Wednesday on 200,000-baht bail.
