“I think we are even ahead of the schedule,” Deputy Prime Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn said on Friday.

Royal cremation ceremonies and related rituals for the late monarch, who reigned Thailand for seven full decades, are set to take place in October.

Tanasak disclosed that structural works for the Royal Crematorium and the Royal MeritMaking Pavilion were now 45 per cent complete.

“Angel sculpture prototypes for the ceremonies have already been cast in plaster,” he said, “For example, the Shiva statues are now in the process of getting apparel details.”

Tanasak said painting had already begun on some sculptures of auspicious animals sculptures including horses and oxen.

Murals that will feature the canvas installed around the royal urn in the royal crematorium are being drafted, telling the stories of the various incarnations of Phra Narai (Vishnu).

“Work on royal chariots is also ongoing,” Tanasak said.

The country is still in a period mourning over the death of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej on October 13 last year.

Sompoch Maneerat, the department’s spokesman, said it would hold two training programs for local people and rangers to work together with the same goal.

The project was initiated last year with the opening of the department at Pracharat Pithak Pa Institute in Phrae province.

The first program was held last year and two more are planned for this year.

The institute will also hold nine partrol training programs for rangers so they are better equipped with high technology, he said. Advanced investigation and defence techniques will be included.

The department has dealt with an increase in crime in recent years as criminals have become more sophisticated and better armed.

Deputy national police chief General Srivara Ransibhramanakul received them before they were interrogated and had their criminal records tabled.

A police source claimed that the suspects had confessed to having used weapons in the violent 2010 demonstrations and kept the rest in the home raided on the weekend.

The source also claimed that the suspects had confessed to having planned to use the weapons against opponents of Pathum Thani-based Wat Dhammakaya.

Red-shirt leader Wuttipong “Ko Tee” Kottham-makhun and his associates are accused of possessing military weapons and criminal association.

Police on the weekend announced the discovery of a large cache of weapons found in a building linked to Wuttipong in Pathum Thani.

The search was expanded to other areas around Bangkok including Samut Prakarn province.

Police will hand over the nine suspects to the Department of Special Investigation for further interrogation as the case also involves a violent demonstration in 2010 that the DSI probed.

Arrest warrants have been issues against four other suspects in the case including Wuttipong, who fled the country.

Chamnan Chanruang, the Chiang Mai-based former chairman of Amnesty International Thailand, said his call especially related to CCTV recordings of the incident in Chiang Dao district last Friday.

Third Army Area 3 chief Lt-General Wijak Banpasop claimed the recordings showed 17-year-old Chaiyapoom resisting soldiers in the performance of their duty.

Chamnan said the probe was necessary to determine if the officers over-reacted.

He said the case had attracted massive attention locally and internationally, so transparency was key.

The Army said the killing of Chaiyapoom was an act of self-defence after the teen allegedly pulled out a knife and a hand grenade.

The Army described him as a suspected drug trafficker, alleging 800 methamphetamine tablets were found in his car following the shooting.

In response to the drug dealing allegation, Chamnan said the case should be investigated fairly based on available evidence.

Following a meeting of the Peace and Order Maintaining Command on Friday, Deputy First Army Region commander Maj-General Pongsawat Pannachit said the adjustment was needed because Sanam Luang would be prepared as the ceremonial ground for the upcoming Royal Ploughing Ceremony.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Department of Public Work is currently preparing the southern area of Sanam Luang to support mourners, with an administrative tent and medical team set up there.

From April 1, officials and volunteers will provide snacks to visitors each morning, Pongsawat said.

Those visiting the “Yen Sira Phro Phra Boriban” exhibition building at Sanam Luang will have a tent especially for them at the area opposite the Appeals Court.

A shuttle bus service from the Grand Palace’s Thevapirom Gate to the exhibition building will be available.

The Royal Ploughing Ceremony will be held in May on the Phuetcha Mongkhon holiday to mark the traditional beginning of the rice-growing season.

The ceremony, rooted in Brahman belief, will involve two sacred oxen ploughing a furrow in the ceremonial ground while rice seeds are sown.

After the ploughing, the oxen will be offered food such as rice, corn, green beans, sesame, fresh-cut grass, water and rice whisky.

There will be a prediction on whether the coming growing season will be bountiful based on what the oxen eat.