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Foreigner Arrested in Connection With Bangkok Shrine Bombing Foreigner Arrested in Connection With Bangkok Shrine Bombing
(35 minutes later)
BANGKOK — The head of Thailand’s military government, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, said on Tuesday that the security forces had arrested a foreign man they suspected of involvement in the deadly Bangkok shrine bombing two weeks ago. BANGKOK — The head of Thailand’s military government, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, said on Tuesday that security forces had arrested a man they believed might have planted the bomb that killed 20 people in Bangkok two weeks ago.
A police spokesman said he had no comment on the arrest, the second in the investigation of the Aug. 17 bombing, which killed 20 people. The man’s name and nationality were not released. Just hours after the arrest along the Thai-Cambodian border, a police spokesman, Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri, said the authorities were confident “that this is a key perpetrator in this case.”
Thai news media reported that the man had been detained at the Thai-Cambodian border. Reports showed an image of a lanky man with the beginnings of a beard in the custody of soldiers. But in an investigation that has been criticized for a number of false leads, the police acknowledged that they had minimal evidence to substantiate their suspicions.
The authorities have been searching for a man who was seen in video footage placing a backpack under a bench near the shrine minutes before the explosion. The attack was the worst bombing in recent Thai history, and it struck in the heart of Bangkok’s main shopping district. “We don’t have the evidence yet, but we had to detain him,” General Prawut said. He said the authorities had yet to conduct DNA and other forensic tests.
General Prayuth said the man under arrest had sought to evade security forces before being detained. It was the second arrest since the Aug. 17 attack, the worst bombing in recent Thai history, which struck in the heart of Bangkok’s main shopping district.
“He was trying to escape,” General Prayuth said. “He is probably a key person.” The police said they did not know the nationality of the man detained on Tuesday but said he was foreign.
The suspect “looks similar” to the man seen on security cameras on the day of the bombing, the general said, but he added that the police would proceed with other verification, including a fingerprint analysis. The authorities have been searching for a man who was seen in video footage placing a backpack under a bench near the Erawan shrine minutes before the explosion. General Prayuth said the suspect arrested on Tuesday “looks similar” to the man in the security camera footage, but he added that the police would proceed with other procedures, including a fingerprint analysis.
“We are looking for the bomber, the person who ordered it and the person who used a phone,” General Prayuth said, without elaborating. “We have to arrest them all.” Thai news media showed an image of a lanky man with the beginnings of a beard in the custody of soldiers. The Thai police said he was arrested as he was trying to cross the border into Cambodia and that he spoke to the authorities in English.
The first arrest in the investigation was announced on Saturday. That man was also said to be a foreigner; his name and nationality have not been released. On Monday, the authorities issued two arrest warrants in connection with the case, one of which was for a 27-year-old woman from a Muslim area in southern Thailand whose family said she had moved to Turkey weeks before the bombing. General Prayuth said the man had sought to evade security forces before being detained.
“He was trying to escape,” General Prayuth said.
“We are looking for the bomber, the person who ordered it and the person who used a phone,” he said, without elaborating. “We have to arrest them all.”
The first arrest in the investigation was announced on Saturday. That man was also said to be a foreigner; his name and nationality also have not been released.
On Monday, the authorities issued two arrest warrants in connection with the case, one of them for Wanna Suansan, a 27-year-old woman from a Muslim area in southern Thailand whose family said she had moved to Turkey weeks before the bombing. The headman of the village where the family lives in southern Thailand said on Tuesday that the family was shocked when they saw news of the warrant because the police had not contacted them beforehand.