Prime suspect in Bangkok bombing taken to scenes for re-enactment

A key suspect in last month's deadly Bangkok bombing, which killed 20 people and injured more than 100 others, was taken to the crime scenes for re-enactment on Tuesday, police said.

Yusufu Mieraili, arrested in Thailand's Sa Kaeo province near Cambodian border on Sept. 1, was taken under police custody to apartment houses in the capital's eastern suburb, a spot outside Hualumpong railway station where he had allegedly handed out a backpack supposedly containing explosives, and one corner of Ratchaprasong intersection near the scene of the blast.

The suspect, who was charged with possession of explosives and explosive-making materials, admitted that he had delivered the explosive-laden backpack to a white Arab male in a yellow T-shirt who eventually placed it near Erawan shrine minutes before it was detonated, killing and injuring tourists and other worshippers, the police said.

The unknown man in the yellow T-shirt who was still at large had been spotted at those suburban apartments days before the bomb attack, according to the suspect's questioning by the police.

He had made other confessions allegedly pertaining to the bomb attack, but could not be disclosed to the public at the moment, said police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thawornsiri.

At one of the rented apartments earlier raided by the police on the outskirts of the capital, another suspect identified as Adem Karadag alias Muhammed Bilaturk was arrested on charges of involvement in the bombing.

Karadag was charged with illegally possessing explosive-making materials found at the apartment in Nong Chok district, the police said.

The police spokesman quoted the suspect apprehended in Sa Kaeo as saying the bombing conspiracy had been carried out by about ten other persons besides the detained suspects.

Arrest warrants have already been issued for nine other bombing suspects who are still at large while the police are yet to find out about a motif for the bomb attack and any alleged mastermind.

Thai high-level government officials, including retiring police chief Gen. Somyot Poompanmoung, did not define the bomb attack as a "terrorist act" for apparent fears of spoiling tourist industry, which has become the country's largest currency earner.

Some expressed optimism that such rare, untoward incidents would only temporarily and slightly affect the tourism sector in the country.

Source: XINHUA