Thai police ban Scot's book for 'insulting' royal family

Books have previously been banned for offending King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the Thai royal family

Thai police have banned imports of a book by a Scottish journalist because it is "insulting to the country's monarchy".

A Kingdom In Crisis, by Andrew MacGregor Marshall, was released last week by British publishers Zed Books.

Thai police chief General Somyot Poompanmoung said its contents "might affect national security and order".

Anyone violating the ban faces a maximum three years in jail, a fine of 60,000 baht (£1,160), or both.

Marshall, 43, was a journalist for Reuters for 17 years, including two years as the agency's Baghdad bureau chief, from 2003 to 2005, as violent insurgency gripped Iraq.

Thai police say the book could affect national security

He also spent two years, from 2006 to 2008, as managing editor of the Middle East region.

Marshall resigned in 2011 amid claims that the news agency refused to publish stories he was writing on the Thai monarchy.

His book ban comes as a crackdown against anti-royalist campaigners intensifies after a political coup earlier this year.

In 2006, Thailand banned imports of a biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej published by Yale University Press.