Malaysia arrests three suspects over Bangkok shrine bombing

Khalid said at the moment, the suspects will remain in Malaysian police’s custody to facilitate investigation and that they are working closely with Thai police.

No group has stepped forward to claim responsibility for the attack at the Erawan shrine on 17 August, but Thailand has alleged that a network which includes foreigners was behind the bombing. “So we will contact the Turkish Embassy in Bangkok about the reports”.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with office policy.

Police say the 39-year-old unnamed woman, who will appear in court later Monday, switched the 10 million baht ($278,000) gem with a fake one at a jewellery fair on the northern outskirts of Bangkok on Thursday.

The suspects initially denied involvement, but X-rays showed a diamond-like object in the woman’s intestine, and police said she then confessed.

Thai officials said Friday that they think Ishan may have fled to China, and have asked the authorities there to trace him.

It is not clear though whether either Bangladesh or India or both had received any intimation about this man from Thai police after the explosion.

Mr Khalid said the Pakistani suspect is male, while one of the local suspects is female and the other is male.

He said the bombing and the ransacking of the Thai consulate in Istanbul – which occurred the day after the deportation – were for the same reason of “illegal human migration, with an origin here and destination Turkey”.

A few days later, Karadag was arrested at the apartment where officials had also found bomb-making materials.

Thai police is now sure that those behind the blast are Uighurs from the Chinese region of Xinjiang. The first picture released by police identified his ethnicity as Uighur, but the police later released another picture with the reference deleted and asked the media not to identify him as Uighur. “Whether they are involved in our bombing incident or not we will have to wait and see”, he said.

In recent weeks, Thai police arrested another two men who allegedly helped prepare and deliver the explosive device.