Extraditing former premier Yingluck Shinawatra back to Thailand would be next to impossible without Britain agreeing to have her sent back here, according to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
His comments followed Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai's confirmation Tuesday that the government has officially sought Yingluck's extradition from Britain, where she is believed to have been based since fleeing Thailand last year to avoid a jail sentence.
Gen Prayut said the request was normal as the police, the attorney-general and the Foreign Ministry were duty-bound to seek her extradition, Gen Prayut said.
"The government has completed its legal steps. Whether the extradition will happen or not depends on the other country," the prime minister said.
"But if they [Britain] do not formerly reply to the extradition request, nothing will come out of it. That's a fact," Gen Prayut said.
Mr Don said he did not know the details of the extradition request as that was a procedural matter.
The foreign minister also said the request was not linked with Gen Prayut's recent visit to Britain.
The extradition request was made earlier this month in a letter dated July 5 and submitted via the Thai embassy in London to Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The BBC Thai website reported in May that Yingluck had obtained a multiple-entry visa from Britain.
On Saturday, Yingluck was seen in a video clip posted on Instagram in which she said that she was now living in Covent Garden in London's West End.
Yingluck, who was prime minister from 2011 until she was ousted by the Constitutional Court shortly before the last coup d'etat in 2014, fled abroad in August last year during a court case against her.
The following month she was sentenced in absentia by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to five years in jail for mishandling a rice subsidy project that caused massive losses.
It was widely believed that Yingluck sought asylum in Britain after her escape.
It is thought she escaped by driving across the border into Cambodia before making her way to Singapore before heading to Dubai and then on to London.
In June, deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul reportedly admitted it would be harder to bring Yingluck back if she had obtained permission to stay in Britain.
