speculated that in the October 2006 annual Army reshuffle, Saprang would not be promoted to Assistant Army Commander and would not be allowed to retain his position of 3rd Army Area Commander. In July, Saprang's own Deputy Commander in the 3rd Army Area, Major General Manas Paorik, warned the media that "a certain military officer who aspires to become Assistant Army Commander" was planning a coup. In the weeks leading up to coup, Saprang openly mobilised soldiers and northern residents to rebel against the government. Saprang played a key role on the evening of 19 September 2006, securing Thaksin's home town and power base of Chiang Mai. That same night, he was appointed assistant Secretary-General of the CNS. The coup was executed just a week before the announcement of the Army's annual reshuffle. After the 2006 coup A week after the coup, Saprang was promoted to Assistant Army Commander, alongside fellow coup leader Anupong Paochinda. His predecessor, General Pornchai Kranlert, had not taken part in the coup and was transferred to an inactive position. Saprang was also promoted from Lieutenant General to General. CNS Special Operations Center On 27 December 2006, it was revealed that the Thai Cabinet had approved over half a billion baht worth of funding for a 14,000-man secret, anti-protest, special operations force, of which General Saprang was commander. The so-called CNS Special Operations Center, funded with 556 million baht diverted from the Defense Ministry, Royal Thai Police, and government emergency reserve fund, had been secretly established by the CNS on 1 December 2006 in order to control protests. TOT and CAT Telecom Saprang was appointed by the junta to become chairman of the Board of Directors of Airports of Thailand (AoT) and also Chairman of the Boards of TOT and CAT Telecom, two major state-owned telecommunication companies. Saprang's first move as TOT Chairman was to hand-pick three Army colonels and vocal Thaksin-critic Vuthiphong Priebjrivat to sit on the state enterprise's board of directors. Saprang transferred TOT President Somkuan Bruminhent to an inactive position and appointed Vuthiphong new president. He then hand-picked all 10 other directors. Saprang noted in an interview that, "if telecommunication businesses are in private hands, the country won't be safe." The junta had earlier announced plans to cancel the initial public offering of both TOT and CAT Telecom and to merge the two state enterprises. Under Saprang's leadership, TOT reaffirmed its ownership rights