Thai police spokesman, Prawut Thawornsiri, on Thursday (September 3) said the suspect who was arrested in the Eastern Sakaeo Province early in the week was found with a list of substances that could be use to make a bomb.
“The suspect arrested from Sakaeo, (was found with) what appears to be a recipe used to create a bomb. Right now, we have sent that to an expert to confirm whether this was a bomb recipe and what kind of bomb it was,” Prawut told reporters.
The man, who authorities later on Thursday identified as Yusufu Meerailee, was arrested on Tuesday (September 1) less than a kilometer from the Cambodian border had told police he was not the bomber, but was in same area when a massive explosion killed 20 people.
The investigation has gained momentum since the weekend raids, before which the authorities had little more than a low-resolution surveillance camera video of a man in a yellow shirt leaving a rucksack at the popular Erawan Hindu shrine moments before the blast.
Police added that Thailand had widen its search.
“Yes, we have sent the arrest warrants with their photos to the Interpol in the countries concerned,” said Prawut.
The August 17 explosion ripped through a Hindu shrine in the Thai capital, killing 20 people and injuring more than 100. Fourteen foreigners were among those who died in the attack.
With no claim of responsibility, speculation has centered on sympathizers of Uighur Muslims, opponents of the military government, southern ethnic Malay rebels and foreign extremists.
Thailand’s forced repatriation of 109 Uighurs to China in July caused international outrage and saw protesters smash windows and ransack parts of its consulate in Istanbul. Many Uighurs transit through Southeast Asia to try to get to Turkey, which has a large diaspora.
Though many details remain unknown, the probe does appear to have a Turkish connection, with police interrogating the suspects through a Turkish translator and fake Turkish passports seized during one raid.
