- Title: THAILAND-BLAST/SUSPECT-POLICE Thai police arrest foreign man over Bangkok bombing
- Date: 29th August 2015
- Summary: BANGKOK, THAILAND (AUGUST 29, 2015)(REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF APARTMENT WHERE SUSPECT WAS ARRESTED VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN OUTSIDE FOURTH FLOOR APARTMENT POLICEMAN STOOD IN DOORWAY OF APARTMENT SOLDIERS STOOD IN STREET OUTSIDE APARTMENT BLOCK CLOSE OF AUTOMATIC WEAPON SLUNG OVER SOLDIER'S BACK POLICE OFFICERS INSIDE ROOM POLICE TAKING SUSPECT WITH COVERED HEAD FROM A ROOM ON THE F
- Embargoed: 13th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Thailand
- Country: Thailand
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA3EPHGFXB4FZUZTQXFCBUN5BGR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Police hunting for the perpetrators of Thailand's deadliest bombing arrested a foreign man on Saturday (August 29) they said fitted the description of a suspect seen leaving a rucksack at the site of the Bangkok blast nearly two weeks ago.
Police raided an apartment in a northern suburb of the capital on Saturday afternoon and discovered possible bomb-making materials that could have been used in the August 17 attack in Bangkok's bustling commercial heart.
"We have arrested one suspect, who is a foreigner, and he is charged with possession of illegal explosive materials...we've handed the suspect over to the military," Thailand's police chief, General Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters gathered outside the four-storey budget apartment block.
The bomb tore through the crowded Erawan Shrine, one of the country's top tourist attractions and close to high-end hotels and malls, killing 20 people and wounding scores more.
Among the dead were 14 foreigners, including seven from mainland China and Hong Kong, in an attack the military government said was intended to be a strike at Thailand's troubled economy.
The prime suspect in the attack is a young man with shaggy dark hair dressed in a yellow shirt seen on grainy closed-circuit television footage dropping off a backpack and casually leaving the scene before the bomb went off.
"We found a man who is now arrested by police for possessing explosive items. He is a foreigner, 28-years old. He was found with materials that can be used to assemble explosives," national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said in a televised announcement.
"We found that he is connected to both of the Bangkok blasts (August 17 and 18), both at Rajaprasong and Sathorn. We believe the perpetrators are the same group," he added.
The police spokesman also showed images of the raid, including components that police said could be used to make bombs, and a pile of passports police said were seized at the apartment where the man was arrested during the raid.
The televised statement also showed images of the suspect, a young man seen sitting inside a room with his hands handcuffed to his back and what appeared to be evidence, bagged up on the floor.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Speculation in media and among experts has been rife about who has motive and capability to carry it out, pointing to southern ethnic Malay separatists, opponents of the ruling military, international extremists or sympathisers of Uighur Muslims, of which Thailand forcibly repatriated more than 100 to China last month.
Many of the Turkic-speaking minority Uighurs who hail from China's far west and have sought passage via Southeast Asia to Turkey. Thai police said on Thursday they were looking into recent arrivals from Turkey as part of their bomb probe.
Police had made little progress and have been criticised for providing contradictory information.
Reuters reporters on Friday found the authorities had not checked some CCTV footage taken minutes after the blast, which featured a man dressed like the chief suspect. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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