National police chief Somyot Poompunmuang said on Monday (Sept 28) police have been hunting Odd Prayoonwong, or Yongyuth Pobkaew, one of 17 suspects wanted on arrest warrants in connection with last month’s Erawan shrine and Sathon pier bombings.
Police believe Mr Odd, one of two Thai suspects in the case, supplied bomb-making materials for the explosions.
The other Thai suspect is Wanna Suansan, who rented a room at the Maimuna Garden Home apartment in Min Buri for suspects in the blasts.
Mr Odd is linked to a bomb blast that took place at Samarn Metta Mansion in Nonthaburi’s Bang Bua Thong district on Oct 5, 2010, Pol Gen Somyot said.
The blast killed four people, including Samai Wongsuwan, a red-shirt supporter, who is believed to have been the bomb-maker.
Mr Odd is also wanted under an arrest warrant in connection with another explosion in Min Buri district on March 29, last year, the police chief said.
Two men on a motorcycle were killed last year in the Min Buri blast. They were allegedly carrying pipe bombs which accidentally went off. Police found five more pipe bombs in a Min Buri house they shared with other people.
Police said the person who rented this house is the same one involved in the Samarn Metta Mansion case. The suspect is still at large.
“The blasts in which Mr Odd was involved were politically linked so a political motive [behind last month’s explosions] cannot be ruled out,” Pol Gen Somyot said.
“The attacks may have been a collaboration between two groups who have the same objective and could gain mutual benefits [from the attacks].”
The police chief said one of the key motives behind last month’s explosions was the authorities’ move to suppress a network smuggling Uighur migrants through Thailand to a third country.
However, he insisted, the deportations of 109 Uighur migrants to China and more than 100 others to Turkey was “unlikely” to be the cause of the bombings, adding that the Thai government's move was in line with international law.
Pol Gen Somyot also noted that there was someone else behind the scenes who had ordered or hired the suspects to carry out the bombings.
Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said Mr Odd was earlier handed a suspended one-year jail term for breaching the emergency decree during the 2010 red-shirt protests, adding he had also been arrested in connection with nine other cases. Pol Lt Gen Srivara conceded that it would be difficult to trace Mr Odd as he has no identification card or official records. It was unclear if he is still in the country.
The bomb blast at the Erawan shrine on August 17 killed 20 and wounded 130. Another explosion took place at the Sathon pier the following day, but no one was hurt.
Two of the 17 suspects are now in custody. Bilal Turk, or Adem Karadag, was arrested in his room on August 29 at the Pool Anant apartment in Nong Chok district where bomb-making materials were found.
Yusufu Mieraili was apprehended, according to the government, in Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province on September 1.
Mr Karadag last week allegedly confessed to being the yellow-shirted suspect after police showed him evidence from CCTV footage in Lumpini Park that had been recorded not long after the blast. Mr Mieraili was believed to have detonated the bomb at the Erawan shrine.
Mr Karadag also allegedly confessed that he planted another bomb at the Chao Phraya Princess pier on Soi Charoen Nakhon 61 on August 17, but it failed to go off. The explosive was then taken by the blue-shirted suspect, identified as Zubair Abdullah, who dropped it into the canal at Sathon pier. The bomb went off the next day.
Police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said police have obtained clear CCTV footage of the incident, but had not shown it to the media. The shrine and pier bombings were related as police found similar ball bearings, steel pipe shrapnel and fuses in both locations.
The materials were also found in the Maimuna Garden Home apartment, rented by Thai suspect Ms Suansan, as well as at the Pool Anant apartment, he said.
The fingerprints of Mr Karadag and Mr Mieraili were also found on equipment used to make bombs, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, a police source said surveillance cameras at the Bangkok Military Court captured a foreign man wearing glasses and a backpack entering one of its buildings on Friday.
He was seen using a lift to go up to the fourth floor and walked up to the rooftop, where he remained for one or two minutes. He was later seen walking down to the third floor and took the lift to the first floor before leaving the building.
Bomb disposal officers checked the building but found no suspicious items left there.
However, the Defence Ministry played down the incident, saying the man might be a tourist.
Meanwhile, Mr Karadag’s lawyer Choochart Khanpai was given approval by the military court on Monday to visit his client at the 11th Army Circle where the suspect is being held.
Before meeting the suspect, Mr Choochart said he wanted to ask Mr Karadag why he confessed because the suspect had earlier said he was not involved in the bombings, and was only passing through Thailand to find work in another country.
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