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Thai police detain man over Bangkok bomb blast

The suspect who is being held in connection with the Erawan Shrine bombing
The suspect who is being held in connection with the Erawan Shrine bombing
THAI ROYAL POLICE / HANDOUT

Thai police have arrested and charged a man in connection with the bomb attack in Bangkok which killed 20 people earlier this month.

The man, described by Thai authorities as “a 28-year-old foreigner”, was arrested in a suburban area along with a stack of passports, police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said.

Police seized detonators, ball bearings and a metal pipe at an address, which they believe were intended to hold a bomb.

On August 17 a bomb tore through the Erawan Shrine area of the Thai capital, injuring more than 120 people, most of whom were tourists.

The blast was followed a day later by another explosion at a public ferry pier, which caused no injuries but exacerbated concerns about safety.

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Police chief Somyot Poompanmoung described the alleged bomb materials found as “the same, similar or the same type” as those used in both bombings, adding that the suspect had travelled in and out of Thailand since January 2014.

The suspect, now in military custody, has been charged with the “illegal possession of bomb-making materials” Mr Thavornsiri said in televised broadcast.

Photographs of a lightly bearded man sitting with his hands behind his back, Turkish passports wrapped in rubber bands and the photo passport page of a 28-year-old Turkish national named Adem Karadag were also shown on screen.

Police did not specify the suspect’s nationality or name.

No one has claimed responsibility for the first blast, which was unprecedented in the Thai capital.

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For days Thai police have been searching for a believed network behind the attacks, focusing on a prime suspect, described as a foreign man, who was captured on security footage wearing a yellow t-shirt and leaving a bag at the shrine moments before the blast.

But authorities have not yet said whether they believe the suspect now detained is the same as the man seen in this video footage.

Mr Poompanmoung told reporters the suspect being held was allegedly motivated by a “personal feud” and that international terrorism was “unlikely”. He did not elaborate further.

The Erawan Shrine is a popular tourist destination and a British law student was among those killed in the explosion.

Vivian Chan Wing-Yan, 19, who was born in Hong Kong, was completing a law qualification in London after studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas). She was travelling with a friend in Thailand when both were killed in the blast.

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At least six of the dead were from China and Hong Kong.

Possible suspects include parties seeking to avenge Thailand’s forced repatriation of ethnic Uighurs to China. Uighurs are related to Turks, and Turkey is home to a large Uighur community.

Other theories included Muslim separatists from southern Thailand, opponents of Thailand’s military government and feuding factions within the security services.