Bangkok dangerous: Hunt on for 'BACKPACK MAN'

[webfact]

BANGKOK DANGEROUS
Hunt on for 'BACKPACK MAN'
THE NATION



BANGKOK: -- POLICE yesterday were still hunting for a man in a yellow T-shirt who was captured by a security camera putting his backpack under a bench at the Erawan Shrine and leaving the scene shortly before the deadly bomb exploded on Monday night.



A motorcycle taxi man working on Soi Mahatlekluang, nearby, told police that the suspect hired him for a drop to the mouth of Silom Soi 9, after which the man walked into the soi.

In the footage, the suspect with curly hair was seen carrying a backpack and walking into the shrine compound at 6.53pm. He sat on a bench, put the backpack underneath it, before standing up to take photographs. He was then seen walking out of the area into Ratchadamri Road without his backpack at 6.57pm. The bomb exploded one minute later.

Police have posted the suspect's image captured from the security camera in a move to find him. They are also seeking footage from other cameras to trace his whereabouts.

As of press time yesterday, 20 people were declared dead, including 11 foreigners, with dozens of others injured.

National police chief Pol General Somyot Poompanmuang, meanwhile, revealed that the suspect may have been wearing a wig to disguise himself and was not acting alone. However, he would not confirm if the suspect was a foreigner or not.

In a related development, an Australian national reported to police after social-media posts said he looked like the suspect. He was not detained.

A report also said that a foreigner with curly hair had been taken in for questioning at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Authorities have put forward several theories on the motive behind Monday's deadly blast at Bangkok's Ratchaprasong tourist area - including retaliation by a member of the Uighur ethnic group.

Another motive could have been a desire to destabilise the military-led government.

In a bid to get credible evidence, Somyot has urged the public to help investigators find the suspect in the deadly explosion, the worst in Bangkok in recent memory.

"We will keep your identity secret and provide maximum protection. At this stage, we have no conclusions yet based on the CCTV footage. The suspect could have changed his facial features or put on make-up to deceive investigators, but we want to this person for questioning first."

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan chaired a meeting yesterday with the national police chief and top security officials to assess the situation, after which Somyot said police and soldiers would set up more checkpoints and step up precautionary checks and patrols in Bangkok to prevent a repeat of the blast.

Somyot said the media should also be careful in presenting pictures and videos of the incident, which could further damage the country's image in the eyes of the international community.

Responding to a question on whether the attack could have been in retaliation for Thailand's recent decision to send some Uighur illegal migrants back to China, he said there was no evidence supporting such a possibility at this stage.

PM's Office Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana said the Uighur minority, has no history of using explosives or operating outside China.

However, Somyot said that if the suspect was confirmed to be a foreigner, police would work with immigration officials to ensure he is not allowed to leave. He added that police would look at any similarities between the blast on Monday and previous ones in the South, as well as an explosion in Bangkok three years ago in which the suspect was an Iranian.

Meanwhile, another bomb just missed people waiting at the Taksin Bridge Skytrain station and landed in water near the Chao Phraya at Sathorn Bridge Pier at 1.30pm. It caused no casualties or damage. Ratisa Eamraor, a garment vendor near the BTS station, said the bomb exploded in the water about 30 metres from her stall.

Police said there were several CCTV cameras in the area and footage would be reviewed to find leads concerning the suspects who threw the explosive into the river.

As for the Uighur theory, a police source said surveillance had been recently stepped up as police were told that terrorists could target Chinese tourists in Thailand. However, police have not ruled out other possibilities, including attempts to destabilise the military-led regime.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Hunt-on-for-BACKPACK-MAN-30266935.html

-- The Nation 2015-08-19

[ourmanflint]

"In the footage, the suspect with curly hair was seen carrying a backpack and walking into the shrine compound at 6.53pm"

...meanwhile

"A report also said that a foreigner with curly hair had been taken in for questioning at Suvarnabhumi Airport."

With observation skills so keen they will no doubt have a profile ready very soon. If you have curly hair and currently reside in Bangkok please be aware that you will soon come under public scrutiny.

[Crossy]

Sadly I suspect that the perpetrator, having long since discarded the curly wig, fake Ray-Bans and deliberately distinctive T is long gone and only likely to get caught if he's dobbed in by someone

[harada]

I don't know if it's my failing eyesight, but looking at the side profile I would be inclined to think that this could be a woman.

[manarak]

I don't know if it's my failing eyesight, but looking at the side profile I would be inclined to think that this could be a woman.

Be careful around Nana Plaza then...

[manarak]

Sadly I suspect that the perpetrator, having long since discarded the curly wig, fake Ray-Bans and deliberately distinctive T is long gone and only likely to get caught if he's dobbed in by someone

let's hope for some luck, such as someone shooting high resolution pictures around the shrine when that piece of !§$% walked around.

[harada]

I don't know if it's my failing eyesight, but looking at the side profile I would be inclined to think that this could be a woman.

Be careful around Nana Plaza then...

Been there done that.

[Carmine6]

Is there anywhere they are posting all the released videos and pictures? In one still picture (attached), his shoes look like there's red on them though his hair looks reddish as well, and even the tail end of the video where he leaves the shoes look reddish. But it is extremely brief and could just be lighting. Without having the motion video this still shot is taken from, it is hard to tell. Looks like black and white uppper with red trim on the sole or red sole to me. But the other released photos don't seem to show red, but are also just dark on the shoes, where there does seem to be a good bit of white and then socks visible.

This is also one of those photos where he doesn't look Asian to me. Looks somewhat lanky, with broader shoulders or longer arms, and the slouch seems to not look so Asian. But in the motion video there were moments I was thinking he was Asian, so full motion here would again be helpful. Maybe someone would recongize his gait as well.

[webfact]

Man in yellow shirt is focus of Bangkok bombing probe
By NATTASUDA ANUSONADISAI and PAPITCHAYA BOONNGOK

BANGKOK (AP) — In the grainy security video, a man in a yellow shirt sits on a bench at the crowded Erawan Shrine, removes a backpack he is wearing, and leaves it behind when he walks away.

For police hunting who was responsible for Monday's deadly bombing in central Bangkok, there was no doubt about the man with youthful shaggy dark hair and glasses.

"The yellow shirt guy is not just the suspect. He is the bomber," police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha called the shrine bombing near a busy intersection that killed 20 and wounded more than 100 "the worst incident that has ever happened in Thailand," and he promised to track down those responsible.

"There have been minor bombs or just noise, but this time they aimed for innocent lives," Prayuth said. "They want to destroy our economy, our tourism."

Bangkok was rattled again Tuesday when another pipe bomb blew up at the Sathorn Pier, which is used by tourists, although no one was hurt.

Prawut released several photos of the man, with and without the backpack, on social media. The images were apparently taken from closed-circuit video at the shrine before the bomb exploded.

Video posted separately on Thai media appeared to show the same man sitting on a bench at the shrine, taking off the backpack and leaving it behind as he walked away.

Without elaborating, the prime minister said, "Today we have seen the closed-circuit footage, we saw some suspects, but it wasn't clear. We have to find them first."

Prayuth said the government will expedite "all investigative efforts to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice."

The bomb, which police say was made from a pipe and weighed 3 kilograms (more than 6 pounds), went off about 7 p.m. in an upscale area filled with tourists, office workers and shoppers. No one has claimed responsibility.

Prawut said Tuesday's blast at the Sathorn Pier frequented by tourist boats also was caused by a pipe bomb and could be related to the shrine attack.

Police said the bomb was thrown from the Taksin Bridge and fell into the Chao Phraya River, where it exploded. Security video showed a sudden blast of water over a walkway at the pier as bystanders ran for safety.

The Erawan Shrine is dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma, but is extremely popular among Thailand's Buddhists as well as Chinese tourists. Although Thailand is predominantly Buddhist, it has enormous Hindu influence on its religious practices and language.

Thai authorities identified five victims as Thai and four as Chinese — two of them from Hong Kong — along with two Malaysians and one Singaporean, and said the nationalities of the other eight victims remained unknown.

The British Foreign Office said one victim was a British citizen named Vivian Chan who lived in Hong Kong. It was not immediately clear whether she was one of the two Hong Kong victims identified by Thai officials. Officials at London's BPP University said she had studied there.

"Everyone at BPP University is devastated to hear of the loss of one of our students, Vivian Chan Wing Yan, in Bangkok yesterday. Our thoughts are with Vivian's family and we will work to support them in any way we can," the school said in a statement.

Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said authorities had no idea an attack had been planned.

"We didn't know about this ahead of time. We had no intelligence on this attack," he said.

Prayuth vowed to "hurry and find the bombers," though he noted there may be just one perpetrator. Speaking to reporters, he continued what has been a notoriously prickly relationship with the media since the former general took control in a May 2014 coup that ousted a civilian government.

Asked if there were leads on the suspects, Prayuth bristled: "We are still investigating. The bomb has just exploded — why are you asking now? Do you understand the word investigation? It's not like they claim responsibility."

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. is offering to support Thailand in its investigation but has not received a request. He said there was no indication that any Americans were among the casualties.

Thailand has seen many violent attacks in recent years, particularly in a more-than-decade-long insurgency by Muslim separatists that has killed over 5,000 in the country's south. Those attacks have never reached the capital, however.

Bangkok has seen politically charged violence in the past decade; the deadliest, in 2010, killed more than 90 over two months and was centered on the same intersection where Monday's bomb went off. But none of those attacks included a bomb that seemed intended to produce mass casualties.

Matthew Wheeler, Southeast Asia security analyst for the International Crisis Group, said the bombing was a "new type of attack for Bangkok" that doesn't bear the marks of typical violence in the past decade from political instability or separatists.

"It is certainly not like politically motivated attacks we've seen in the past which have generally been designed to grab attention but not cause casualties," Wheeler said, adding that he expected it would have "major ramifications for security in Thailand."

The suspect seen in the video wearing a yellow shirt raised initial questions about whether the violence was politically motivated, since one group of previous protesters was known to wear that color of clothing. But officials have not linked the attack to Thai politics.

In the morning, investigators surveyed the damage as police and soldiers guarded the area, still littered with shattered glass and other debris. The normally busy intersection was closed to traffic and eerily empty, aside from onlookers standing behind police tape to take pictures. Barricades were set up outside nearby five-star hotels, and security personnel stopped cars to inspect trunks before letting them pass. The intersection was reopened by midday.

At least 20 people were confirmed dead and 126 injured, according to the Erawan Emergency Center.

Bangkok has been relatively peaceful since the military coup after several months of sometimes violent protests against the previous government.

At the same time, the military government has tightly controlled dissent, arresting hundreds of its opponents and banning protests. Tensions have risen in recent months, with the junta making clear it may not hold elections until 2017 and wants a constitution that will allow some type of emergency rule to take the place of an elected government.

Stirring the pot has been exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. His sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was ousted as prime minister last year.

In a YouTube post last week, Thaksin urged his followers to reject the draft constitution because he said it was undemocratic. The draft charter is supposed to be voted on next month by a special National Reform Council. If it passes, it is supposed to go to a public referendum around January.

The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok advised U.S. citizens to avoid the shrine's area. The Hong Kong government raised its travel alert for Bangkok to "red," urging its citizens to avoid nonessential trips to Thailand.

New Way Travel, a Bangkok-based agency that caters to Hong Kong tourists, said all its tour groups scheduled to arrive in coming days had canceled.

Tourists reacted with concern.

"We didn't think anything like this could happen in Bangkok," said Holger Siegle of Germany, who said he and his newlywed wife had chosen Thailand because it seemed safe. "Our honeymoon and our vacation will go on, but with a very unsafe feeling."
___

Associated Press journalists Jocelyn Gecker, Grant Peck, Jerry Harmer, Michael Rubin and Penny Yi Wang in Bangkok, Matthew Pennington in Washington, and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-08-19

[Valentine]

Certainly looks like the perp has gone out of his way to disguise himself what with the glasses, armbands to hide possible tattoos, maybe a wig, the distinctive yellow T shirt which no doubt is long gone.

[z42]

Grill that motorcycle cabbie that dropped him / her at silom soi 9. What language did the person speak, was he speaking local Thai, isaan Thai or was he a foreigner who spoke English.

Go get some footage from Sukhumvit Soi 9 and see where he / she went. That is assuming they have cctv around there.

[johna]

In the video footage showing the man placing the bag at the shrine, you can also see many tourists taking photos, it might be a good idea for police to ask all people who were at the shrine that night to check their cameras.

[Soutpeel]

I don't know if it's my failing eyesight, but looking at the side profile I would be inclined to think that this could be a woman.

Be careful around Nana Plaza then...

Been there done that.

so your eyesight is failing then ? At one point did you realise she was in fact a "he" ?

[Spleen]

I don't know if it's my failing eyesight, but looking at the side profile I would be inclined to think that this could be a woman.

You must have had some rough women in your time , well done

Has anyone questioned Leo Sayer ?

[geriatrickid]

I don't know if it's my failing eyesight, but looking at the side profile I would be inclined to think that this could be a woman.

You must have had some rough women in your time , well done

Has anyone questioned Leo Sayer ?

Leo Sayer.jpg

More like Richard Simmons, and more importantly, his mannerisms would allow him to easily blend in with the locals

[anto]

In the video footage showing the man placing the bag at the shrine, you can also see many tourists taking photos, it might be a good idea for police to ask all people who were at the shrine that night to check their cameras.

He was only there a minute or two .Anyone who took photos and their cameras are dust by now .Certainly any memory cards found there should be checked .I agree the motorcycle taxi who took him to Silom Soi 9 ,will have valuable info .(which the Police will now have ).

Edited August 19, 2015 by anto

[chainarong]

Sadly I suspect that the perpetrator, having long since discarded the curly wig, fake Ray-Bans and deliberately distinctive T is long gone and only likely to get caught if he's dobbed in by someone

Yes they are looking for an entirely different person, even the padding (fattening) on the nose will be gone

[stoneyboy]

A motorcycle taxi man working on Soi Mahatlekluang, nearby, told police that the suspect hired him for a drop to the mouth of Silom Soi 9, after which the man walked into the soi.

So they now know in what language he spoke obviously.

[apetley]

Grill that motorcycle cabbie that dropped him / her at silom soi 9. What language did the person speak, was he speaking local Thai, isaan Thai or was he a foreigner who spoke English.

Go get some footage from Sukhumvit Soi 9 and see where he / she went. That is assuming they have cctv around there.

My thoughts exactly. In my experience most Thais can identify a foreigner even if they are talking Thai so it should be known if the suspect is Thai or not, certainly if they are 'farang'.

[tumama]

A third thread on the same subject?

Did the taxi driver say he spoke Thai? If so, with a broken accent? Why not release that info?

[zaphod reborn]

"PM's Office Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana said the Uighur minority, has no history of using explosives or operating outside China."

Short memory, Mr. Suwaphan. Are you forgetting the 9 July attack on the Thai embassy in Istanbul? DOH!

Edited August 19, 2015 by zaphod reborn

[John1012]

It is time to educate the Thai public and force the police/military to be more vigilant so the vulnerability of the people is reduced. This reminds me of the 'troubles' in the UK late 60's to late 80's where the public became educated and aware of unusual behavour, non accompanied baggage etc. Perhaps these actions will finally dispell the attitude of 'it won't happen to me', and the general public will start becoming aware of the world around them,instead of only being aware of their owm myopic existence. In the Uk, especially now with the Islamic problem, unaccompanied baggage is very noticeable and should be reported to the authorities immediately. I feel a serious tightening of military control in Bangkok, possible all tourist spots as well, coming, the police do not have the will , means or expertise to up the level of security required to lower the threat level.

Edited August 19, 2015 by John1012

[clokwise]

First of all, they need to release a first generation copy of the CCTV video to the media, instead of footage from a shaking cellphone pointed at a security camera video screen. We'll get a much better look at the guy that way.

That yellow t-shirt is so distinctive. It's either a major screw up on the part of the bomber, or a false flag. This t-shirt is apparently produced by a tiny womans fashion boutique in Jakarta. The odds of it even being sold outside of Jakarta (or at least Indonesia) seem pretty slim. I'd consider that a major lead.

http://www.amaranthine-fashion.com/product/read/86/tshirt-gucci-bag

[o2eZy]

looking at the pic's ...notice he has bandage on either arm indicating there would be something there that would identify him...maybe tatoo's

[TheKnave]

I don't know if it's my failing eyesight, but looking at the side profile I would be inclined to think that this could be a woman.

Be careful around Nana Plaza then...

Been there done that.

so your eyesight is failing then ? At one point did you realise she was in fact a "he" ?

When your chest hairs popped out of your bra, SP...

[emilymat]

looking at the pic's ...notice he has bandage on either arm indicating there would be something there that would identify him...maybe tatoo's

Yes maybe. Or, he has no tattoo's but wants them to think he has. Interesting.

[scorecard]

Sadly I suspect that the perpetrator, having long since discarded the curly wig, fake Ray-Bans and deliberately distinctive T is long gone and only likely to get caught if he's dobbed in by someone

Further, I hope the police are NOT focusing only on this person, and still have an open mind whether it was another person.

[taony]

Is anyone looking for the guy in the red shirt or the guy in the white shirt that was standing in front of yellow shirt guy when he took off the backpack?

[Soutpeel]

Grill that motorcycle cabbie that dropped him / her at silom soi 9. What language did the person speak, was he speaking local Thai, isaan Thai or was he a foreigner who spoke English.

Go get some footage from Sukhumvit Soi 9 and see where he / she went. That is assuming they have cctv around there.

My thoughts exactly. In my experience most Thais can identify a foreigner even if they are talking Thai so it should be known if the suspect is Thai or not, certainly if they are 'farang'.

And don't you think there is no mention of the language used in any of the reports significant ?

If the conversation was in English or " bad Thai" they would certainly publicise this to show " no ,Thai would do this" ? The fact it hasn't been mentioned suggests the conversation may have been in Thai ?

[MaxLee]

Somyot said the media should also be careful in presenting pictures and videos of the incident, which could further damage the country's image in the eyes of the international community

Image, image, and 3 times image.... In ya face, you moron........!!!!!!!!! Welcome to the 21st century......