Showing posts with label Bomber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bomber. Show all posts

Friday 25 September 2015

Bangkok - Suspect 'confesses' he planted shrine bomb

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Police looking for clinching evidence to prove Adem Karadag was the bomber in yellow t-shirt.

 ADEM KARADAG, the foreigner arrested late last month in connection with the Erawan Shrine bombing, has confessed that he was the man who planted the explosive device that killed 20 people and injured 100 others on August 17.

Karadag, or Bilal Muhammed, has confessed that he was the man who planted the bomb at the shrine, according to a source familiar with the ongoing police investigation.

He told police that after placing his backpack containing the explosive device at the shrine, he hired a motorcycle taxi to Lumpini Park. He then removed his wig, glasses and armbands before changing into new clothes, according to the source.

Police investigators have studied security-camera recordings that show a man who looked like the bomber entering a toilet in Lumpini Park, which is just a few minutes' ride from Erawan Shrine.

The video showed the man caught on CCTV in a yellow T-shirt before and after he entered the toilet.

Police took Karadag to different locations associated with the bomb attack to confirm his confession, according to the source.

Investigators found that Karadag looked like the man in the video who went to Lumpini Park to change his clothes, the source said.

The man has become more cooperative with the investigators and has given them more information that was helpful to the probe, the source said.

Meanwhile, Karadag's lawyer, Chuchart Kanpai, yesterday said his client has insisted that he is not the bomber. He challenged the police claim that Karadag has confessed that he had planted the bomb.

National police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang yesterday declined to confirm that Karadag was the bomber. But he said he believed the police had evidence to prove so.

"For me, Thai police are the best in the world. I believe police have evidence, but I can't disclose anything further about this," he said.

The police chief said that judging from the amount of bomb-making materials found in possession of the suspects in this case, it appeared they were making more than 10 explosive devices. It was fortunate for Thailand that those people were arrested before the bombs were planted, he added.

"If all those 10 explosive devices had been planted, they would have caused massive damage to Thailand. Thanks to all the sacred beings, the country was spared from disaster," Somyot said.

However, he also said that despite Karadag's confession, investigators would still need confirmation with more clinching evidence.

"The investigators are confident that Adem was the bomber but they still cannot be conclusive from the CCTV images," Somyot said.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday that DNA tests would be required to confirm that Karadag was the bomber.

He said that the authorities were not attempting to close the case and that it should be dealt with in accordance with evidence.

He said the confession could not prove that the man was the real bomber.

Metropolitan Police chief Lt-General Sriwara Rangsiphra-manakul yesterday said the investigation into the case was 90 per cent complete.

Commenting on Karadag's reported confession, he said that the investigators would need more evidence to strengthen their case against the suspect, as confession was insufficient to prove in court.

Source: The Nation

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Monday 31 August 2015

#Bangkok, Court approves two more arrest warrants


The Min Buri Court Monday approved two more arrest warrants for a Thai woman and a foreigner suspected of involvement in the Erawan Shrine bombing, Police spokesman Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thawornsiri said.
Prawut said the court approved an arrest warrant for Wanna Suansan who rented an apartment room in Min Buri. The court also approved an arrest warrant for the second foreigner who was seen living in the room rented by Wanna.

Police found fertiliser and explosive that could be used to make bombs inside Wanna's rented room, the spokesman added.

Shortly after the August 17 blast that killed 20 people and injured more than 100 others, the court approved an arrest warrant for a foreigner who was seen on CCTVS placing a backpack in the compound of the shrine before the bomb went off.

On Saturday, police arrested a foreigner at an apartment in Bangkok's Nong Chok district. Police refused to say whether the suspect was the alleged bomber wanted in the first arrest warrant.

Prawut said Monday that the arrested suspect was involved with the Ratchaprasong and Sathorn pier bombings but his nationality was still not clear.

The spokesman said police are also seeking warrants for arrest of several more suspects.
Source: The Nation 
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Sunday 30 August 2015

Phone data leads to arrest Bangkok Bomber

NOTHING TO CHANCE: More than 100 police and military officers were involved in the arrest. 

 News > Security Phone data leads to bomb arrest Ball bearings and bomb-building equipment found in suspect's room.

A police source close to the investigation said the arrest of the foreign man, who is believed to be Turkish, came after investigators spent more than a week sifting through every mobile phone call made within the vicinity of the shrine around the time of the bombing on Aug 17. 

He said officers managed to identify three Turkish phone numbers which had activated international roaming services and were in use near the blast site.
.Police apparently traced one of those phone numbers to the suspect apprehended yesterday. Around 100 police and soldiers moved in to make the arrest around 3pm at the Pool Anant apartment building in Nong Chok district, in the city’s eastern outskirts.
.A military source said the suspect held a Turkish passport by the name of Adem Karadag, 28, although the document was later found to be fake.
.A large quantity of bomb-making materials and equipment which allegedly belong to the suspect were seized from his rented room.

READ MORE: BangkokPost
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Turkish Suspect Arrested In Connection With Bangkok Bombing

A Thai police handout photo shows Turkish suspect Adem Karadag after his arrest Saturday in Bangkok in connection with a bombing August 17 at a central Bangkok shrine, which killed 20 people. A police spokesman said bomb-making materials were found at his apartment and they were similar to the device that detonated nearly two weeks ago. EPA

BANGKOK (DPA) - A foreign suspect was arrested Saturday in connection with a bombing this month at a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people, police said.
"We arrested a 28-year-old foreign national who had in his possession bomb-making materials, including fuses, ball bearings and pipes," police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said.

The materials were similar to the device used in the August 17 bombing, Prawut said, adding that the suspect probably was linked to the attack but might not have been the actual bomber.

The spokesman also showed a picture during a press conference of a dozen passports emblazoned with a crescent and star found in the possession of the suspect. Local media reported that the passports are Turkish in origin.

A police source who declined to be named said police acted on a tip from the landlord who owned the apartment that the suspect was renting.

The landlord grew suspicious because the suspect did not speak Thai and rented five rooms on the same floor of the apartment complex.

Local residents told reporters that the suspect had been living in the apartment for two weeks before the bombing at the Erawan shrine in the heart of Bangkok.

Kasem Pooksuwan, the motorcycle taxi driver who said he drove the suspect away from the bombing, said pictures released of the man arrested looked similar to the bomber.

"They have the same chin and nose," Kasem said.

Television footage late Saturday showed the suspect wearing a black hood being taken away from the apartment complex as onlookers watched.

Police said the suspect will be interrogated.

Anthony Davis - a regional security analyst with Britain's IHS Jane's, which provides intelligence to militaries and governments - said at a forum this week that the Bangkok bombing did not fit the pattern of attack of local and regional groups.

Davis said the most likely group to have carried out the attack is a far-right Turkish organization known as the Grey Wolves. Davis said that the motive for such an attack could have been the repatriation of Uigher refugees to China by the Thai government.
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