Man with ‘Fake Turkish Passport’ Arrested as prime suspect in Bangkok Brahma Temple (Erawan Shrine) blast case. One Thai origin Muslim woman under scanner. Islamic and Uighurs Human Trafficking for ISIS recruitment came to surface with this case. Bomb making technique resembles with Islamic Terror modules.
HENB | Bangkok | Sept 1, 2015:: When the report of deadly blast of 17 August’s Bangkok Erawan (Brahma Temple) Blast came out in Hindu Existence under the heading, “Deadly Bangkok Hindu Shrine Explosion By Suspected Islamists. 27 killed , several injured”, it was a strange one for many for trending and connecting Islamists with the blast. Now, new revelations from Bangkok is nearing to the closure of manhunt and Islamic connections are being clear in the broad day lights.
Prime Minister of Bangkok Prayut Chan-o-cha announced yesterday that the key suspect for the August 17 Erawan Shrine bombing has been arrested.
Thai premier general Prayut Chan-o-cha said the male suspect was apprehended while trying to cross the border at Ban Pa Rai in Thailand’s Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo province, nearly two weeks after the attack. He said that police are checking the man’s nationality and the Turkish embassy has been informed of the arrest and that the suspect has been brought to Bangkok for questioning.
Nation TV reported that the suspect resembled the man in a yellow T-shirt, who was captured on CCTV leaving a backpack under a bench in the shrine compound. The backpack exploded minutes later, killing 20 people and injuring hundreds of others.
READ ALSO: Police seek new suspects in Bangkok blast as more bomb materials found
Police spotted the suspect when he was trying to sneak across the border into Cambodia from Aranyaprathet, Burapha Taskforce chief Maj-General Srisak Poonprasit said. The suspect had a black backpack, in which he was found to be carrying clothes similar to the ones the suspected bomber was seen wearing on the day of the attack.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the foreign suspect arrested on Saturday might be linked with human trafficking rings smuggling Uighurs. Some groups could benefit from Uighurs seeking to flee China flee China by making them fake passports, Gen Prayut said. It is told that Uighurs from China’s Xinjiang Province are reportedly joining the ISIS terror groups in numbers.
READ ALSO: ‘Turkish national’ arrested for Bangkok bomb blast
Yet the investigation into the worst terrorist atrocity in Bangkok’s history remains unsolved. In the latest development, police released the picture of a Thai woman in an Islamic head-scarf after finding bomb-making material in second Bangkok apartment, she rented.
But the family of Wanna Suansan later told police that the 26-year-old left was married to a Turk and left Thailand two months ago to stay with her husband in his home country.
The bomb materials include urea-based fertiliser, bottles of flash powder, a radio-controlled vehicle, bolts, decorative lights that could be used as a detonator, and four wristwatches. Urea nitrate is a compound commonly used in homemade bombs with potential striking power as a wide choice by all local Jihadi factions including Indian Mujahideen.
Police believe the two prime bombing suspects in the Erawan and Sathon pier explosions are hiding in Cambodia and have asked Phnom Penh authorities to hunt them down, a Crime Suppression Division (CSD) source said Monday.
Meanwhile, a reporter on Monday night spoke with the most-wanted Thai Muslim woman, who said she has been in Turkey for the past three months and was “shocked” to be accused of the crime on national Thai TV.
A woman who said she is Wanna Suansan, 26, of Phang-nga, with the Muslim name Maisaroh, told a reporter said she had already spoken with police via telephone. Later, she said officers from Bangkok had called her back to tell her not to speak to the media. A police source said that checks of the woman’s travel records found that she left for Dubai on July 1.
READ ALSO: Bangkok bomb blast: What we know till now
Authorities told the Bangkok Post they had spoken to “a relative” of Ms Wanna, who said she is in Turkey and she would be willing to return to Thailand to meet with officers.
In a third, confusing development, confusing development, police also told the Bangkok Post they are not actually convinced Ms Wanna had left Thailand. They said witnesses told them they had seen her and the man from the identikit sketch were seen at the Min Buri apartment between Aug 10-20. The Erawan bomb blast was on Aug 17.
READ ALSO: Thai woman wearing Islamic head-scarf named as suspect
Also on Monday, the prime minister admitted that the network involved in the bombings could be linked to human trafficking rings smuggling Uighurs.
It is told that potential perpetrators named by the police and experts before the man was arrested have included international Jihadists, members of Thailand’s southern Malay-Muslim insurgency, militants on both sides of the country’s festering political divide or someone with a personal grudge.
Source: The Nation | Bangkok Post | Agencies.
Courtesy: Sources, Links and Pics used above.