Lite Beer Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 Police Refute 'The Times' Report Naming Suspect By Khaosod Eng. A composite sketched released Tuesday of the suspected Bangkok bomber. BANGKOK — Police have denied a news report earlier today claiming two witnesses who said they interacted with the suspected Bangkok bomber had positively identified him in a passport photo shown to them by authorities.While one suspect remains the singular focus of intense scrutiny and speculation behind Monday’s deadly bombing at the Erawan Shrine, police refuted a report from correspondent Richard Lloyd Parry claiming one witness was “100 percent sure” the suspect was the same man whose passport photo was shown to him.“I don't know who the source in this story is, but let me insist that police are working based on the evidence that we have,” outgoing national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told reporters this afternoon when asked about the report.Somyot denied the man named in the news report was a person of interest. Asked specifically if investigators have linked any name to the suspected bomber yet, Somyot said “not yet.”“But even if I have the name, I wouldn't necessarily tell the media, because it won't do anyone any good,” he said.Earlier today the account was posted by correspondent Richard Lloyd Parry on his Facebook, who said the story was only published in electronic editions of the paper this morning and not available online. Parry is a correspondent for London-based The Times.“When the police showed me the pictures, I recognised him immediately,” the report quotes a Nikhom Tantula, who is said to be one of two motorcycle taxis who stepped forward to say they had given the suspect a ride. “I said: ‘I’m 100 percent sure'. They asked me some questions, but not many. It’s strange.”Nikhom, in Parry’s account, said he gave ride to the suspect eight days in a row in February, always at 5:30am from a stand on Sathorn Road and was confident it was the same man show to him in a passport photo shown to him by an immigration official. Read More: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1440153886§ion=12&typecate=06 -- Khaosod English 2015-08-21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clockman Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 So who do we believe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedtripler Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 So who do we believe? neither ! yesterday the mocyc remembered him vaguely by shirt colour but not really any features -today hes 100% sure its the same guy .... someones twisted his arm .......by cash or by threat is my best guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toknarok Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 I hope I'm wrong but it appears they have no idea - they're floundering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thailand Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 First name Mohammed? interesting to see if this pans out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puwa Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 So it's too early to declare this an act of journalism? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 So who do we believe? neither ! yesterday the mocyc remembered him vaguely by shirt colour but not really any features -today hes 100% sure its the same guy .... someones twisted his arm .......by cash or by threat is my best guess Different motorcycle taxi. You are referring to the one on the day of the bombing. This guy, Nikhom Tantula, is referring to previous days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishoak Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 Nikhom, in Parry’s account, said he gave ride to the suspect eight days in a row in February, always at 5:30am from a stand on Sathorn Road and was confident it was the same man show to him in a passport photo shown to him by an immigration official If this is true then its time to take the rest seriously. Thing is the times is considered a bit more credible than the Sun or other tabloid press... and besides if Somyot says otherwise it probably means its worth paying attn to. I expect the Parry had a proper long chat with the taxibike and a lot more questions... Seems the bike taxi guy is really saying the police didnt ask anywhere near enough questions ... unsurprisingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lildragon Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 Google is bringing up nothing about this. Just pure speculation at this point. (isn't it all eh?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallGuyJohninBKK Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 Here's the author's Facebook version of the article saying it was in the paper's print edition, but not online edition. https://www.facebook.com/richardlp/posts/10153567291945645 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apetley Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 (edited) That composite sketch has been circulated so widely if I was shown a real passport photo I'd positively identify him too! Edited August 21, 2015 by apetley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod reborn Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 "They asked me some questions, but not many. It’s strange.” Somyot has no interest in this investigation. His mind is on spending his soon-to-be pension money at a Cambodian casino. Someone else can do the hard work a real investigation takes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony5 Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 Nikhom, in Parry’s account, said he gave ride to the suspect eight days in a row in February, always at 5:30am from a stand on Sathorn Road and was confident it was the same man show to him in a passport photo shown to him by an immigration official If this is true then its time to take the rest seriously. Thing is the times is considered a bit more credible than the Sun or other tabloid press... and besides if Somyot says otherwise it probably means its worth paying attn to. I expect the Parry had a proper long chat with the taxibike and a lot more questions... Seems the bike taxi guy is really saying the police didnt ask anywhere near enough questions ... unsurprisingly. Do you remember what you did 6 months ago at a certain time of the day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxLee Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 So who do we believe? well not the RTP chief of course.... Somyot denied the man named in the news report was a person of interest. Asked specifically if investigators have linked any name to the suspected bomber yet, Somyot said “not yet.”“But even if I have the name, I wouldn't necessarily tell the media, because it won't do anyone any good,” he said. another example of the stubborn attempt to save face Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seastallion Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 R.L Parry...."is a British foreign correspondent and writer. He is the Asia Editor of The Times of London, based in Tokyo". One would expect he has a fair degree of journalistic ethics and professionalism. Both taxi drivers said they were shown a passport. If true, it means the police do suspect this guy and know his nationality....perhaps the basis for them being so sure he's not Thai. One possible reason they are not disclosing that they have a real suspect could be that they are waiting for foreign police to nab the guy and don't want to alert him or his cohorts that the net is closing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NongKhaiKid Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 The problem with this investigation, as with so many other issues involving the BIB, that even if they get things right no one believes because they have been discredited so many times in the past. Trust, like the soul, never returns after it's gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAppletons Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Skynews Australia says his name is Mohamad Museyin http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/08/22/bangkok-bomber-mohamad-museyin-named.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puwa Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 I put very little stock in this story. First of all, the driver's recollection seems awfully precise. 8 consecutive days in February? Second, are we to believe that the immigration police flashed a photo in front of him and the driver remembers the foreign name and the spelling? Maybe the cops asked few questions because they thought he was full of shit. There's a lot of reward money floating around. Lastly, I wonder if Parry conducted the interview himself or through interpreters and stringers. Even established, senior journalists can get overexcited, let their ego and imagination run wild, and reach too far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussieinthailand Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 "They asked me some questions, but not many. It’s strange.” Somyot has no interest in this investigation. His mind is on spending his soon-to-be pension money at a Cambodian casino. Someone else can do the hard work a real investigation takes. NO,,, he's focusing on the big issue as directed, Some how trying to strip Thaksin of his police rank and his decorations awarded by powers higher than everyone else. NO no ,no'p sorry they're concentrating on the wind up key's on small car's coz they're really really bad. Ok sorry my bad it's the bar's selling booze with in 300 meters, ehh, 500, meters, with in the vicinity of a school, dam I need six months to find out which bar's are owned by my mates, and the bigger fish than me, Photo op's with a little finger pointing, and OOOhhh look this is my angry face. No wonder the public have ZERO confidence in the BIB, just look at the multiple stories that have been flying about. A well earned reputation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmine6 Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 R.L Parry...."is a British foreign correspondent and writer. He is the Asia Editor of The Times of London, based in Tokyo". One would expect he has a fair degree of journalistic ethics and professionalism. Both taxi drivers said they were shown a passport. If true, it means the police do suspect this guy and know his nationality....perhaps the basis for them being so sure he's not Thai. One possible reason they are not disclosing that they have a real suspect could be that they are waiting for foreign police to nab the guy and don't want to alert him or his cohorts that the net is closing. One question I have is how did the taxi driver remember the name on the passport? If it had been a Thai name, that's much more understandable. The driver didn't know what country the passport was from, so presumably there wasn't something like a Thai spelling of the name as well. I suppose they might have also asked if the driver recognized the name, which would have made it much easier to remember. This taxi driver seems to be one of the two at Sathorn Soi 10, so is in a reasonable location to have driven backpack guy. It also seems likely that backpack guy had been in that area before because it would be very random to have picked Silom Soi 9 as a drop off point without prior knowledge of that area. I also don't doubt that the driver drove someone several days in a row early in the morning. That's something that would be memorable since he also said the guy was always in a hurry and insisted he drive really fast. I think he said the guy would say to go faster even when he was going 80 km/hr. But, what worries me is that they might have just found some guy who looked like the backpack guy. They probably went through all records of people who stayed in the hotels for the past year down those Soi's, found one who looked like the video/drawing, then took that passport photo around. So of course that guy might be recognizable since he actually stayed in that area. But that doesn't mean he is the same guy as backpack guy. Just might have been someone who stayed there earlier in the year, but then hasn't been back. What I would hope is they also got someone who saw the guy that night to say the passport was the guy. That does not seem to be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibbler Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Police refute that a journalist was able to make better headway in the investigation than they had. What does that mean, the police are incompetent, or they are covering up something seriously nasty..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmine6 Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Police refute that a journalist was able to make better headway in the investigation than they had. What does that mean, the police are incompetent, or they are covering up something seriously nasty..... How did a journalist make better headway in the investigation than they had, if they were the ones showing the passport? But I'll repeat what I just said above. Getting someone to recognize a guy who had been there months ago does not mean that is the backpack guy. They need to get someone who saw him that night to say the passport looked like him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Haggis Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 I put very little stock in this story. First of all, the driver's recollection seems awfully precise. 8 consecutive days in February? Second, are we to believe that the immigration police flashed a photo in front of him and the driver remembers the foreign name and the spelling? Maybe the cops asked few questions because they thought he was full of shit. There's a lot of reward money floating around. Lastly, I wonder if Parry conducted the interview himself or through interpreters and stringers. Even established, senior journalists can get overexcited, let their ego and imagination run wild, and reach too far. sounds pretty similar to what senior Army and Police officers do here pretty much most of the time!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puwa Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 I put very little stock in this story. First of all, the driver's recollection seems awfully precise. 8 consecutive days in February? Second, are we to believe that the immigration police flashed a photo in front of him and the driver remembers the foreign name and the spelling? Maybe the cops asked few questions because they thought he was full of shit. There's a lot of reward money floating around. Lastly, I wonder if Parry conducted the interview himself or through interpreters and stringers. Even established, senior journalists can get overexcited, let their ego and imagination run wild, and reach too far. sounds pretty similar to what senior Army and Police officers do here pretty much most of the time!! Can't argue with that. It must be infectious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bboy Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Or the motorsai is 100% sure that he'd like 3million baht Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemonjelly Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Could be a long term "guest", ... Used a motorsi 5:30 am every morning for 1 week... Could've been doing movie extra work, police should go through the model/ movie extras agents photo albums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seastallion Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Police refute the name. Police are sure he's a foreigner. Reward raised to 10 million. It's clear now; He is foreign, he's skipped the country (the reward will not be paid to overseas agencies), and they do know who he is but don't want to warn him that a foreign agency is on his tracks. I wonder if he's Malaysian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baerboxer Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 "They asked me some questions, but not many. It’s strange.” Somyot has no interest in this investigation. His mind is on spending his soon-to-be pension money at a Cambodian casino. Someone else can do the hard work a real investigation takes. NO,,, he's focusing on the big issue as directed, Some how trying to strip Thaksin of his police rank and his decorations awarded by powers higher than everyone else. NO no ,no'p sorry they're concentrating on the wind up key's on small car's coz they're really really bad. Ok sorry my bad it's the bar's selling booze with in 300 meters, ehh, 500, meters, with in the vicinity of a school, dam I need six months to find out which bar's are owned by my mates, and the bigger fish than me, Photo op's with a little finger pointing, and OOOhhh look this is my angry face. No wonder the public have ZERO confidence in the BIB, just look at the multiple stories that have been flying about. A well earned reputation. You're wrong mate. All these are just unimportant distractions of the big one - getting that massive gun deal signed and sealed before month end and his retirement. Can't miss a nice litter earner like that now, not just before retirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim walker Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Possibly the military Junta don't want the suspect found Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cumgranosalum Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 (edited) Frankly, I couldn't even identify MYESLF from a passport photo. surely we all know how unreliable eye witnesses are - not even allowed as hard evidence in some courts....and this is nor a real person, a photo and a passport photo at that.... Edited August 22, 2015 by cumgranosalum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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