Thai police say one of the suspects apprehended as part of the investigation into last month’s deadly bomb attack at a popular shrine in Bangkok has confessed to possessing banned explosives.
Last week, Yusufu Meerailee was arrested trying to flee across the Thai border into Cambodia — National Police spokesman Prawut Thavonsiri said he’d also been carrying a piece of paper with a chemical formula used to make explosives written on it.
“We have informed him (Yusufu) of the charge of jointly possessing and owning explosives that are banned by the government. He acknowledged the charge and confessed (to it),” Prawut told reporters at a news conference on Monday.
Police have also issued two additional arrest warrants for suspects wanted in connection with the bombing that killed 20 people and injured many more, bringing the total number of arrest warrants to 11, Prawut added. The additional suspected have been identified as Abdullah Abdullahman, who police released a sketch of, and an unnamed male foreigner — about 175 cm (5 feet, 8 inches) in height. Police showed a photo of him captured by CCTV-surveillence video from a department store.
Shared apartment
Police said Yusufu shared an apartment in the capital with a man named Adem Karadak, who was caught during a police raid on the address on August 29. Yusufu’s fingerprints were found on possible bomb-making equipment found at the apartment, police said.
Both men had been traveling on false documents, according to the authorities.
National Police General Chakthip Chaijinda said at a briefing last Wednesday that Yusufu spoke Turkish and that the interrogation was conducted through a translator.
Meanwhile, police believe two other suspects wanted in connection with the August 17 atrocity at the city’s Erawan Shrine — a husband and wife — have left the country. They were named last week as Emrah Davutoglu and Wanna Suansan. Wanna is believed to be Thai, while police have previously said Davutoglu is Turkish.
Police said last week that they were looking for Wanna after authorities found bomb-making materials in a Bangkok-area apartment — the second they raided — allegedly connected to her.
Davutoglu is suspected of organizing and providing accommodation to other suspects.
However, Wanna’s mother told police her daughter left Thailand two months ago “to stay with her husband in Turkey,” police Col. Saharat Saksilapachai said last Monday.
Wanna has contacted Thai police through social media and denied any involvement, police said. She admitted renting a room in an apartment in Bangkok, though she said she gave it up almost a year ago, according to police.
She said she’s in Turkey with her baby and husband, according to Saharat.
