She was believed to know the perpetrators thought to be behind the Erawan shrine and Sathon pier bombings, according to police sources. The group was thought to be planning more attacks.
The woman is identified as “Misaloh”, and rented room No.9106 at Maimuna Garden Home in Min Buri district.
On Saturday night (August 29), a combined police and military force searched the room and confiscated several items which can be used to make bombs.
Items found in the room included urea-based fertiliser, six 12x7cm bottles of flash powder, black and blue electrical wiring, four wristwatches, a table clock, a pack of bolts, decorative tree lights, an empty box for a walkie-talkie, a radio-controlled toy vehicle and a rucksack containing books. Police seized the items for examination.
The search was based on information gleaned from the foreigner suspect detained on Saturday in a raid at the Pool Anant apartment in Nong Chok district, where authorities seized bulk supplies of materials for making bombs, sources said.
The suspect is now being detained at the 11th Army Circle in Bangkok.
Following the Saturday night search, a team of 40 police and military officers went back Sunday to Maimuna Garden Home and searched the entire apartment again.
A welding tool was found in one room and seized for examination.
Deputy national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said police were deployed to five areas to track down more suspects. He declined to disclose the locations.
Police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said yesterday (August 30) a network of foreign nationals is thought to be behind the Erawan shrine blast.
Pol Lt Gen Prawut said significant quantities of bomb-making materials including detonator cords and fuses seized from the suspectʼs room during Saturdayʼs raid point to the possibility the suspect and his accomplices had several more targets in mind.
“There were large quantities of bomb-making materials including 10 detonator cords,” said Pol Lt Gen Prawut, also assistant police chief.
The evidence has been sent for forensic examination and the findings will confirm if they are linked to the Erawan shrine and Sathon pier explosions, he said.
The police spokesman said the detained suspect, who cannot speak Thai, has so far denied any involvement in the Erawan shrine bombing, he said, adding authorities cannot confirm his identity or nationality.
“He gave a certain amount of cooperation, saying where he travelled from. But we donʼt believe everything he said. So far he has made no confession,” he said.
Investigators are not ruling out any motives at this stage and it is too early to conclude what role the suspect played in the attacks.
It is believed many other people, some of whom are likely to be Thai nationals, are involved, said Pol Lt Gen Prawut. He did not give a number.
One of the possible motives is the blasts were an act of personal revenge after police recently cracked down on foreign criminals including those running fake passport syndicates.
It is possible the suspect is involved in a syndicate that makes counterfeit passports for nationals who entered Thailand on the quiet and wanted to travel to a third country, he said. More than 200 fake passports were seized from the suspectʼs room, which lends weight to this theory, he said.
Police investigators have confirmed the two attacks are linked based on the type of the explosive devices used.
Pol Lt Gen Prawut said other pieces of evidence such as records of phone calls are also being examined. There are photos of possible accomplices in the suspectʼs phone that police are trying to verify.
Police are also questioning the cab driver who drove the yellow-shirt suspected bomber to Hua Lamphong station after he was found to have been contacted by the phone numbers which are thought to belong to the suspects.
The cab driver might have hidden some information from police but so far he has not been charged or detained, he said. He said it cannot be confirmed if the arrested man is one of the two suspects facing arrest warrants.
Besides the yellow-shirt man, an arrest warrant was issued for a man seen dropping a plastic bag with an explosive device near Sathon pier on August 17.
“He is one of the network definitely. Give police some time. There are several leads to follow and jobs to be done,” he said.
A source in the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) said police and military officers are jointly questioning the arrested suspect and authorities are not ruling out any possibilities including human trafficking.
Meanwhile, residents of Nong Chok district in the eastern outskirts of Bangkok say they hardly noticed the presence of a group of Turkic-looking foreigners in the area, and did not suspect they were linked to the Erawan shrine blast until one was arrested on Saturday.
A convenience shop clerk working near the apartment building where the man was arrested said there are few foreigners in the area, and most are long-time customers at the store.
However, it wasn't until around one month ago that she started to see a group of four or five men in the area, who she said looked similar to the bomb suspect in the photographs released by police.
She couldnʼt tell if the group of foreigners were friends, but assumed they knew each other as they seemed to be of the same ethnicity.
The clerk said the group would drop into the shop several times a week to buy water and snacks.
They usually came late at night, she said, adding she recognised the man who is now in police custody as one of her customers.
According to a nearby fruit vendor, the group mostly kept to themselves when they ate at food stalls and did not speak Thai.
Most of the time, they would buy large quantities of food and carry their supplies back to the apartment building, although they sometimes ate outside, he said.
The fruit seller added that he usually saw two individuals – one he identified as the man arrested by police, and another who he says was shorter, with a heavier build and darker skin tone – passing by to order food.
They couldnʼt speak Thai and would use sign language or short English sentences to communicate with the stall owners, he said.
The vendor explained that he usually liked to talk to his customers, especially foreigners to ask where they were from, but this group did not want to interact with him and preferred to keep quiet.
“They clearly looked as though they did not want to have a conversation,” he said, adding they seemed agitated when he started chatting with them.
The vendor added that he saw them regularly until last Thursday (August 27).
“That's the last time they came, Iʼm sure,” he said.
He added that other locals did not pay special attention to these foreigners because none of them matched the sketch of the yellow-shirt clad Erawan bomber released by the police.
However, the fruit sellerʼs wife said the man in police custody was only a suspect for now and it was too soon to conclude that he was the bomber.
Most locals agreed the Pool Anant apartment complex where the suspect was arrested is generally a calm area.
Residents of the building who leave for work early in the morning and return late at night said they never saw the suspects, who they believed usually kept to themselves during the day.
According to Thanakorn Wiwanakorn, a caretaker at the apartment building, two foreigners have been occupying a room for over a month now, and demonstrated secretive behaviour.
They kept quiet and seemed to avoid contact with other people, he said, adding they also looked like they didnʼt want to be seen.
Mr Thanakorn said he once saw one of the men standing on his balcony as he was cleaning the courtyard.
The caretaker added that he didnʼt get a clear view of the man as he was a distance away, but described him as having curly, mid-length hair and wearing a beard.
He said he hasnʼt seen him since.