Thai Police to Charge Suspect in Shrine Bombing Case

ADEM KARADAG, the foreigner arrested late last month in connection with the Erawan Shrine bombing, has confessed that he was the man who planted the explosive device that killed 20 people and injured 100 others on August 17.

But Gen Prawit said that even if the suspect confesses, more evidence is needed to corroborate the account.

Thai security officials have found new evidence leading them to turn their focus back to detained suspect Adem Karadag, as the possible Bangkok shrine bomber, the media reported on Thursday.

Royal Thai Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said this evening he’s convinced Bilaturk is the same man seen in the park’s CCTV footage.

Mieraili earlier admitted to the police that he had handed out the bomb in the backpack to his alleged partner at a spot outside Hualumpong railway station, about 5 km from the shrine. He was apprehended on August 29 at his room at the Pool Anant apartment in Nong Chok district where bomb-making materials were found.

Another source said it was still too early to determine if the suspect was one of the bombers.

But the new footage shows the suspect near the toilets with a plastic bag in his hand.

Nonetheless, Chuchart Kanpai, the Thai lawyer handling the case on behalf of Karadag, argued that his client might possibly have given untruthful testimony for yet unknown reasons.

National deputy police chief Noor Rashid Ibrahim said they were detained in the past week in Kuala Lumpur as well as in northeastern Kelantan state.

According to police sources, the yellow-shirted man entered the park’s Gate 4 and went into a toilet at 7.04pm and left about four minutes later wearing a grey shirt, based on the video footage. Thailand will need to provide basic proof of their involvement in the bombing if it wants to extradite the suspects, he said.

Thai police stand guard as people pray during a crime re-enactment near the bombsite at Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok. Police are now searching for the taxi driver, the sources said.

He said the confession could not prove that the man was the real bomber.

The prison guards said Mr Karadag was ill with a cold and could not eat, he said, adding that he will try to meet with his client on Monday to ask him about the confession.

Four of the six people arrested last week were believed to be minority Uighur Muslims who come from China’s far western Xinjiang region said Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay director of the Malaysian police counter-terrorism unit.