Main suspect in Bangkok bombing arrested: Thai premier
Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha says a man believed to be the main suspect in a recent bombing at a shrine in central Bangkok has been arrested.
The Thai premier said on Tuesday the suspect is a “foreigner,” who was arrested in eastern Thailand near the Cambodian border.
Prayuth noted that security officials had traced the man to the Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo, a major crossing point to Cambodia.
"He has been arrested at Sa Kaeo checkpoint," said Prayuth, adding, “He is a main suspect and a foreigner."
The premier described the detained man as a piece in a jigsaw puzzle that would connect various parts of the case.
Prayuth also warned against speculating about the man until more information is learned. “So we will know who they are, where they came from, who’s behind this.”
“Don’t say just yet it’s about this and that. It could affect international affairs,” Prayuth said, adding, “We have to do a lot of tests, fingerprints. If he is the guy, he is the guy.”
This came days after Thai security officials on Saturday arrested a man during a raid on a Bangkok apartment that contained some bomb-making material.
Thai officials confirmed that the suspect detained was a Turkish national. He is currently being held in military custody.
Arrest warrants were also issued Monday for two more suspects after a raid on a second apartment in a suburb of Bangkok found more bomb-making materials. Investigators believe that apartment was used as a hideout by the network that carried out the attack.
"We found fertilizer bags, watches, radio controls -- parts to make bombs and electric charges," said national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri on Monday, adding, "We are confident they are the same group."
Following the deadly explosion on August 17, police launched an operation to arrest a man wearing a yellow T-shirt, who had been captured on security cameras that showed him leaving a bag at the area moments before the explosion.
Suspicion over the attack has alternated between organized criminal gangs, extremist militants, and Thailand’s bitter political rivals and rebels in the kingdom's strife-torn south and sympathizers of refugees from China's Uighur minority.
Thailand has been witnessing unrest since its powerful generals took the law into their own hands in a May 2014 coup following the ouster of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government, which had faced months of protests.
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