Police Will Prosecute 2 for Bangkok Bomb

Prawut advised reporters on the shrine on Saturday that the primary arrested suspect, who has been referred to each as Bilal Mohammed and Adem Karadag, the identify on a Turkish passport he holds, was accountable for the bombing.

On August 17, 20 people, including several Malaysians, were killed in a bomb blast at the Erawan shrine in Bangkok.

Adem Karadag was arrested when police raided an apartment in Bangkok on August 29, where they also found bomb-making materials and a large quantity of fake passports, including a bogus Turkish passport carrying the photo of the suspect and the name Adem Karadag.

“After he placed the bomb at the shrine he called a motorbike taxi and changed his shirt at a restroom in (nearby) Lumpini Park” before travelling to a flat on the outskirts of Bangkok.

He said the police had obtained pieces of evidence to substantiate the charges that crime was perpetrated by the detained suspects.

They have speculated the attack was revenge for Thailand’s forced deportation of 109 Uighur asylum-seekers to China in July, a move that ignited anger in Turkey where nationalist hardliners see the minority as part of a global Turkic-speaking family.

In the police report there is no clear evidence indicating the man seen is Bilaturk.

The Erawan shrine – centred around a four-faced golden statue of the Hindu god Brahma – is considered sacred by Thai Buddhists, and attracts many foreign visitors.

The source also said that new evidence had turned the police’s attention back to Karadag who was caught at a room in Pool Anan apartment in Nong Chok district. He challenged the police claim that Karadag has confessed that he had planted the bomb.

The police officials of Thai and Bangladesh thought that apparently Turkey seems to be his final destination. I do not believe Adem would confess, ‘ said lawyer Chuchart Kanphai, who last visited his client on September 15.

A military court has issued arrest warrants for 17 others wanted over the bomb attack.

Uighurs complain of oppression by the Chinese government, and some advocate turning Xinjiang into a separate Uighur state.

Thai police have ruled out a political motive linked to Uighurs for the blast suggesting instead the reason was that a human trafficking gang was angered by a police crackdown.

Police took Karadag to different locations associated with the bomb attack to confirm his confession, according to the source.

The other suspect who appeared in the re-enactment was identified as Yusufu Mieraili.