At 13:00 hrs. Mr.Tharit Pengdit, Director-General, the Department of Special Investigations, briefed the press on the outcome of the meeting of the Center For Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) earlier in the day, gist as follows:

1. Following the CMPO's operation that was started since yesterday morning in several areas, the CMPO reaffirmed that it is an operation to investigate the protesting sites and to arrest those who faced arrest warrants. The operation has been carried out on the basis of law. More importantly, it is a transparent operation as members of the media have been invited to cover. The operation at the Government House premise yesterday, was to arrest those who had violated the law. Illegal items such as firearms, ammunition, and drugs were seized at the site. The police, however, was instructed to leave the site when the operation was over. For today's operation at the Chaeng Watthana protesting site, it was to investigate and put pressure on the protesters to leave the Government Complex. The operation was also to arrest Luang Pu Buddha Issara and his security guards who already faced arrest warrants.

2. Following the order from the Civil Court instructing the DSI to withhold actions on the seize of 7 accounts of Dr.Seri Wongmontha, the CMPO has received a report from the DSI that it will follow the order from the Court. However, any transactions of Dr.Seri and other People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) in total 58 person will still be seized by an injunction issued by the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), DSI, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), the Royal Thai Police, and the Revenue Department under the Emergency Decree.

3. Following the case of Mr. Sonthiyarn Chuenruethainaitham, on 15 February, the authority filed the request to the Criminal Court to detain him no further than 12 days at a time, not more than 7 times, or a total of 84 days for further charges of insurrection, creating a public disturbance and incitement to break the law. On 16 February at 12.00 hrs., the Criminal Court approved the detention of Mr. Sonthiyarn for 12 days. The CMPO reaffirmed that this has followed the normal legal procedure.

4. The CMPO has received a report from the Metropolitan Police and Provincial Police regional commands regarding the legal proceedings against the election obstructions. So far, there are 156 cases involving election obstructions, 165 cases involving the failure of electoral officers to perform their duties, and 67 persons already faced arrest warrants.