DHAKA: Thailand’s junta leader on Monday threatened to tighten controls of the media unless they stop ‘presenting news’ about former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, after photographs of the billionaire cuddling a panda went viral.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup as prime minister and lives abroad to avoid jail for a corruption conviction, sits at the epicentre of Thailand’s near decade-long political rupture.

His sister Yingluck was also booted out of office as premier by a controversial court ruling just before the military again seized power in May.

Thaksin is loathed by the Bangkok elite and their royalist supporters in the army and judiciary, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 2020 HRS, NOV 03, 2014