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‘1st confession’ in Thai bomb probe
Source: AFP | September 8, 2015, Tuesday |
ONE of the two men arrested after last month’s deadly bombing in Bangkok has admitted to a charge of possessing explosives, police said yesterday, in the first confession over the unprecedented attack on Thailand.
Police say Yusufu Mieraili was arrested last week near the border with Cambodia.
“We have informed him of the charge. He acknowledged and confessed to the charge,” national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters.
Police have not revealed his nationality, although he was caught in possession of a Chinese passport with a birthplace listed as Xinjiang.
A second man identified as Adem Karadag has already been charged over the crime after he was caught in a flat in a suburb of the Thai capital with bomb-making paraphernalia and dozens of fake Turkish passports.
Police have said neither man is thought to have physically planted the bomb on August 17 at a religious shrine in downtown Bangkok that killed 20 people, including seven Chinese tourists.
But they are confident the pair are involved in the network blamed for the attack, which rocked the capital and dented faith in Thailand’s key tourist sector.
After nearly two weeks without progress in their investigation, police made what they said was a breakthrough following a raid on the flat in Bangkok’s eastern suburbs.
There they found Karadag. That arrest led to Mieraili who was picked up three days later on the Cambodian border.
The alleged confession of one of the gang’s key members came as police said they had issued two new arrest warrants.
The total number of people wanted in connection with the deadly attack stands at 11 — in addition to the two arrested foreigners.
They include a Thai Muslim woman and her Turkish husband, both of whom are believed to be in Turkey.
Prawut told reporters one of the new warrants is for a foreign man of unknown nationality called Abdullah Abdullahman.
The second is for an unnamed foreigner seen on CCTV buying items from a department store close to where the two arrested suspects allegedly stayed.
Prawut did not detail what items the man had bought but said the new warrants were based on witness testimony and interrogation of the two under arrest.
Both men are wanted on a charge of illegal possession of explosives, he added.
The shrine that was hit by the blast is known for its popularity among Chinese worshippers and the majority of those killed in what was Thailand’s worst single mass casualty attack were ethnic Chinese visitors from across Asia.
The Chinese visit Thailand in far greater numbers than any other nationality.
Tourism accounts for at least 10 percent of GDP and remains one of the few economic bright spots in the kingdom.
Source: AFP | September 8, 2015, Tuesday |
ONE of the two men arrested after last month’s deadly bombing in Bangkok has admitted to a charge of possessing explosives, police said yesterday, in the first confession over the unprecedented attack on Thailand.
Police say Yusufu Mieraili was arrested last week near the border with Cambodia.
“We have informed him of the charge. He acknowledged and confessed to the charge,” national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters.
Police have not revealed his nationality, although he was caught in possession of a Chinese passport with a birthplace listed as Xinjiang.
A second man identified as Adem Karadag has already been charged over the crime after he was caught in a flat in a suburb of the Thai capital with bomb-making paraphernalia and dozens of fake Turkish passports.
Police have said neither man is thought to have physically planted the bomb on August 17 at a religious shrine in downtown Bangkok that killed 20 people, including seven Chinese tourists.
But they are confident the pair are involved in the network blamed for the attack, which rocked the capital and dented faith in Thailand’s key tourist sector.
After nearly two weeks without progress in their investigation, police made what they said was a breakthrough following a raid on the flat in Bangkok’s eastern suburbs.
There they found Karadag. That arrest led to Mieraili who was picked up three days later on the Cambodian border.
The alleged confession of one of the gang’s key members came as police said they had issued two new arrest warrants.
The total number of people wanted in connection with the deadly attack stands at 11 — in addition to the two arrested foreigners.
They include a Thai Muslim woman and her Turkish husband, both of whom are believed to be in Turkey.
Prawut told reporters one of the new warrants is for a foreign man of unknown nationality called Abdullah Abdullahman.
The second is for an unnamed foreigner seen on CCTV buying items from a department store close to where the two arrested suspects allegedly stayed.
Prawut did not detail what items the man had bought but said the new warrants were based on witness testimony and interrogation of the two under arrest.
Both men are wanted on a charge of illegal possession of explosives, he added.
The shrine that was hit by the blast is known for its popularity among Chinese worshippers and the majority of those killed in what was Thailand’s worst single mass casualty attack were ethnic Chinese visitors from across Asia.
The Chinese visit Thailand in far greater numbers than any other nationality.
Tourism accounts for at least 10 percent of GDP and remains one of the few economic bright spots in the kingdom.
