THE hunt for those behind the Erawan Shrine bomThai woman flew out of Phuket in July; bomb materials found in flat she rented, police say; relative claims she will return to deny any role in blasts.
However, police have been unable to clearly pinpoint the motive for
Bangkok's worst bomb attack. They have come up with the theory that the
culprits may have been human smugglers angered by the government's
crackdown on the illegal trade, a source familiar with the ongoing
investigation said yesterday.
Previously, possible suspects included political rivals, organised
criminal gangs, Islamic militants, southern insurgents and sympathisers
of Uighur refugees.
Four arrest warrants have so far been issued in connection with the two
blasts - the male shrine bomber seen wearing a yellow shirt and a man
in a blue shirt who dropped an explosive device at Sathorn pier. That
device exploded the day after the shrine attack but no one was injured.
Meanwhile, police investigators have found footage from closed-circuit
TV cameras near Hua Lamphong Railway Station that shows the shrine
bomber receiving a backpack similar to one used in the bombing from a
man in a white shirt, another police source said.
Min Buri Provincial Court yesterday granted a police request to issue
arrest warrants for Phang Nga resident Wanna Suansan, 26, who is also
known by the Muslim name Maisaloh, and a man of an unspecified
nationality.
Police said Wanna rented an apartment in Min Buri in eastern Bangkok for the man.
A sketch of the unidentified man, who looks to be a foreigner, was issued along with the arrest warrant.
The wanted woman left Thailand on July 1 from Phuket airport for Abu
Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, according to a police source. Video
footage showed her with a man who looks like the man in the police
sketch. However, there is no immigration record of him leaving Thailand.
A search of Wanna's rented room found gunpowder, urea fertiliser and
other bomb-making materials, Royal Thai Police spokesman Lt-General
Prawut Thavornsiri said.
Police searched her house in Phang Nga yesterday afternoon. A relative
of Wanna at the house said she was in Turkey, the country of her
husband.
The relative said Wanna had insisted she was not involved with the
blasts and would come back soon to turn herself in to police.
But Prawut said: "We are confident that these two people are in the
same group of people responsible for the blasts at the Ratchaprasong
intersection and the Sathon pier."
He said more arrest warrants would be issued soon but declined elaborate.
The foreigner of unknown nationality arrested on Saturday at an
apartment in Nong Chok is still denying involvement in the blasts, a
source said. However, substances found on his clothes were similar to
what was used in the bombs.
Police will conduct a DNA test in a bid to confirm his link with the blasts, the source added.
The man, who held a fake Turkish passport, is being detained at the
11th Military Circle in Bangkok's Dusit district, where security has
been increased. No media are allowed to take photographs or do video
recordings at the agency.
Prawut dismissed a report that police were detaining four Palestinians
in connection with the investigation. But he could not confirm or deny
they were being detained by the military.
The spokesman said police were conducting searches in many locations
but declined to discuss the operation in detail. He urged owners of
apartment buildings with foreign tenants to prepare copies of CCTV
recordings of the tenants for police examination.
National police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang met Prime Minister
Prayut
Chan-o-cha at Government House yesterday to report on progress in the
investigation. The PM told reporters afterwards that the mass media
should avoid making wild speculation about the case or they could
further complicate the probe.
In the government's newsletter for September 1 (today), General
Prayut
wrote: "I and all the Cabinet members promise that we will do the best
of our ability to prevent such an incident from happening again. And we
will find all the perpetrators to be punished in accordance with the
law."
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