They were both found to be harmless after inspection by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team of the Phuket City Police.
At 8:30pm yesterday (Feb 3), the Phuket City Police and Kusoldharm rescue workers closed off an area near Suan Luang Park (Rama IX) Park in Phuket Town after the discovery of an unattended suitcase in front of SB Living Place hotel near the Intersection of Chao Fah East and Bangkok Roads.
While they were waiting for the EOD team to arrive, a worker of Phuket Municipality garbage collector told Lt Col Chatchat Choonoo of the Phuket City Police: “While I was collecting the garbage, I found a piece of luggage at 8pm, so opened it and found it was empty. I was going to put it into the garbage truck, but I thought that the owner might come back to get it. So I didn’t move it.”
The police EOD confirmed that the suitcase was empty.
Later that evening at 9:01pm police were informed of another luggage that was found in front of the SCB Bank on Chao Fah East Rd. Again, Police cordoned off the area to inspect the suspicious luggage. The owner of the luggage later returned to collect it.
Once the police confirmed that the suitcases posed no threat, both cordoned off areas were reopened.
A similar situation occurred in Dec 2016, see story here.