Foreign Affairs helping in hunt to locate bomb suspects abroad
THE FOREIGN Affairs Ministry is working with international police to hunt down suspects behind the Erawan Shrine bombing who have fled the country. It has also said that four more warrants will be issued in relation to the attack.
Yesterday Royal Thai Police spokesman Lt-General Prawut Thavornsiri said that police had found information indicating two to three suspects have already left Thailand, so officers were working with countries where they may have gone and international police to try to track them down.
“I admit that it is hard to catch these suspects because the evidence against them is not strong, but I believe that we can arrest all of the suspects,” Prawut said.
Aod’s mother found
In regard to claims that police had arrested Aod Payungwong, also known as Yongyut Pobkaew, a Thai suspect in the shrine blast, Prawut said he had checked with the Metropolitan Police Bureau there was still no report of Aod’s arrest. But the police had found his mother.
“Aod has not seen his mother for a long time and now a check is going on to find his birth certificate at Siriraj Hospital. He was last seen at Min Buri in Bangkok and Nong Chok district,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon stressed that both Aod and Izan needed to be brought to police custody to investigate how and who they connected with.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said it was the police’s duty to ensure that arrested suspects were not wrongly captured and there was no need for concern if there was evidence against them, as they were true suspects.
No links in Malaysian arrests
National police chief General Jakthip Chaijinda reassured that police would catch the remaining 15 suspects including Aod soon, saying police had found clear evidences and four investigation teams had been sent to possible hiding places.
Jakthip revealed that more than 200 witnesses had been interrogated and said four new arrest warrants would be issued. So police would do everything to capture them all as soon as possible.
Prawut also said the tracking of money transfers showed that most amounts exchanged within the group were not large, but police could detect where money was sent from.
On the effort to capture Abu Dustar Abdulrahman, or Izan, he said police were working with the Foreign Affairs Ministry to check on his |departure.
He also revealed that eight suspects arrested in Malaysia had no connection with the bomb case.“For the suspicious white foreign man, who was found on close circuit camera roaming around Bangkok Military Court, Dusit District Court has issued a warrant for him for the allegation of trespass into the other office without good reason,” he said.
On the Bt7 million reward for capturing the bomb suspects offered by Panthongtae Shinawatra, he said there was no word from Panthongtae on handing over the reward yet, but police wanted to be sure on his intention and how to manage the reward.
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