Last week, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered a manhunt for people who posted death threats on social media against him and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.

Thawip said the death threats were a result of the government’s plan to request the extradition from Laos of dissidents who were wanted on lese majeste charges.

“I personally ordered a probe [to determine] whether we can additionally charge them with threatening to attack important figures or not,” Thawip said.

He plans to discuss the extradition issue with his Lao counterpart at the Ministry of Public Security when he visits Vientiane in the near future.

Prawit said it was not necessary to tighten security for important |figures as he believed current |measures were adequate.

He said: “I’m fine and not frightened. Don’t worry. It would be better to worry about those who posted the death threats but I don’t know where they are.”

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry has contacted Thailand’s Embassy in Vientiane and consulate in Savannakhet province to track down the dissidents, a source at the ministry said.

The source said Thailand had an extradition treaty with Laos, but to proceed with an action, the ministry and its embassies needed to be contacted by concerned agencies and arrest warrants issued by a court.

However, the extradition agreement with Laos requires that crimes must not be linked to politics or religion. Authorities would also have to verify if Laos has domestic laws for similar offences, the source said.

In a related development, Prayut said yesterday that he would be unable to do anything if his horoscope was not promising, as had been predicted by a well-known fortune teller.

The prime minister said he would heed such a warning although he saw no need to change anything in order to help “improve my horoscopic future”.

Prayut added that he did not rely on any fortune teller when leading the coup in 2014.

“I listen to the prediction. But what do you expect me to do? I don’t need to make any changes or do anything about that,” he said in response to questions from reporters.

Earlier, astrologer Sorajja Nualyoo, known as “Thailand’s Nostradamus”, predicted bad fortune for the country’s leader and violence in the country.