Thai authorities have confiscated some 8,000 red bowls bearing a message from an ousted ex-premier, police said yesterday, in the junta's latest attempt to block the resurgence of the political party it toppled.

The raids followed the arrest last week of a woman seen posing with one of the bowls in photos on social media. She has been charged with sedition, a move slammed by a rights group as absurd.

The plastic scoops, used for pouring water in Buddhist ceremonies during Thailand's upcoming new year, bear a note signed by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose political bloc has spent the past decade vying for power with a military-backed elite.

Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup and now lives in exile, while the government run by his sister Yingluck was toppled by the current junta in 2014.

The bowls — cast in the Shinawatra's signature red colour - were first distributed at a temple fair last week in the northern province of Chiang Mai.

The message printed on the side reads: "The situation may be hot, but brothers and sisters may gain coolness

from the water inside this bucket."

On Saturday police and soldiers raided homes and offices of three former MPs from the Shinawatras' Puea Thai Party in the northern province of Nan to seize the bowls.

"If we allow these bowls to be distributed, it could benefit some political parties or result in losses to others," said officer Prayoon Chamnankong, who led one of the raids.

In a social media post yesterday, Thaksin urged the junta to focus on more important matters.

"I've done it (given out bowls) several times in the past and it never posed a problem to national security," he wrote, suggesting the junta spend its time tackling other issues such as an ongoing drought and a simmering Muslim insurgency in the far south.

Thewoman arrested last weekcould be jailed for up to seven years if con-victed of sedition.

Hum an Rights Watch cal led the case evidence that the junta's " intolerance of dissent has reached the point of absolute absurdity".

"When military courts try people for sedition for posting photos with holiday gifts from deposed leaders, it's clear that the end of repression is