Evidence sufficient to charge Bangkok bomb suspect

The second man arrested, Yusufu Mieraili, used a mobile phone to trigger the bomb, Prawut said without giving further details.

Srivara Rangsi-prammanaku, head of Bangkok Police, told reporters that investigative teams had found enough evidence and witnesses to “definitely” prove that a man Thailand calls Adem Karadag – whose lawyer says is actually named Bilal Muhammed – was the man seen in CCTV footage planting the August 17 bomb at the Erawan Shrine.

He said Thai police have been notified, and he hopes they can aid in identifying the men.

Police chief Somyot linked them to the attack for the first time last week but only in reference to their theory that the blast was conducted by a gang of people-smugglers in revenge for a Thai crackdown on their lucrative trade, including the transfer of Uighurs.

Karadag, whose nationality stays unconfirmed, wore a yellow shirt on prime of his jail uniform and sat on a bench on the shrine in the course of the re-enactment – the identical place the person seen in safety footage left the backpack containing the bomb.

Some of the suspects are carrying Thai, Chinese, Turkish and Pakistani passports, police say.

Hundreds of police commandos and soldiers today escorted two bomb suspects for re-enactment of their acts in the bombing of the Erawan Shrine which killed 20 people, and injured over 120 others on August 17.

According to police sources, they initially only had footage of the suspect on the back of a motorcycle heading to the park and entering the park’s toilets.

“Even the two arrested men’s true identities remain uncertain”.

Mieraili earlier admitted to the police that he had handed out the bomb in the backpack to his alleged partner at a spot outside Hua Lampong railway station, about five kilometres from the shrine. That fact, and his name, strongly suggested he is a member of China’s Uighur ethnic minority.

The Uighur issue could be a thorny one for Thailand and any substantive link between the bombing and Thailand’s forced repatriation of 109 Uighurs at China’s behest in July could result in criticism that its foreign policy may have triggered the attack. Numerous victims were foreigners as the shrine is a popular destination for tourists and Thais alike.

The man has become more cooperative with the investigators and has given them more helpful information, the source said. At least four of the suspects still at large have been tentatively identified as Turkish.

Thousands of Uighurs have tried to flee China saying they face persecution which Beijing rejects.