Erawan blast: Police to simulate bombings at testing site as part of investigation

[webfact]

ERAWAN BOMBING
Police to simulate bombings at testing site as part of investigation
PRAVIT ROJANAPHRUK
SUPACHAI PETCHTHEWEE
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- POLICE investigators are preparing to simulate the two recent bomb blasts that rocked the centre of Bangkok at an explosion-testing site as part of their ongoing investigation.

We are in the process of preparing materials for the simulations," deputy national police chief General Jakthip Chaijinda said yesterday.

The simulations would take place at Hoob Saboo explosion-testing area in Phetchaburi's Cha-am district, he said.

On August 17, an explosion rocked the Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong Intersection, causing 20 deaths and injuring more than 100. Many of the victims were foreigners. On August 18, another blast exploded near the Sathorn Pier, but no one was injured. No arrests have been made yet in connection with either attack.

The court has already approved an arrest warrant for one man suspected of planting the bomb at the Erawan Shrine.

Jakthip said yesterday that police expected another arrest warrant to be issued within a week in connection with the explosion near Sathorn Pier. "We have not yet concluded whether the explosives in these two cases are the same type," he added.

Jakthip described the blast as a "world-level case", though he dismissed suggestions that the description was related to foreigners' plot to stage violence in Thailand. "No, it's not that. I used this description based on the fact that there were a high number of deaths, that such an attack has never occurred in Thailand before, and that it has gained the attention of so many countries," Jakthip said.

National police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang, meanwhile, said yesterday that police were still unable to confirm reports that a Turkish extremist group was to blame for the bombing. A foreign analyst said on Monday that the most likely motive behind the deadly bomb was the general dissatisfaction over the handling, both locally and in China, of the Uighur people who had fled to Thailand.

Anthony Davis, a Bangkok-based security analyst for IHS-Jane's, said the Erawan Shrine bombing on August 17 was possibly "a revenge attack on the Chinese and on the Thai state" by a hybrid group linked to elements in a pan-Turkic group called "The Grey Wolf" the Grey Wolves.

The group, according to Davis, is an "extreme right-wing fascist movement" that has links with organised crime. The Grey Wolves are also believed to have a paramilitary wing and chapters in some parts of Europe, including Berlin.

The Erawan Shrine bombing killed 20 people and injured more than 100 others, many of whom are still being treated.

Davis, who floated the hypothesis at a Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand panel discussion on Monday night about the bombing, said the recent attack on the Thai Consulate in Istanbul was directly related to Thailand's handling of the Uighur issue.

About a hundred Uighur people, who fled to Thailand in the hope of eventually going to Turkey, were forcibly repatriated by Thai authorities to China. "It is essentially a hybrid group. It doesn't have a clear organisational profile," Davis said of the bombers.

Wikipedia refers to the Grey Wolves as a Turkish nationalist organisation, with up to 1.9 million supporters, that has carried out some major operations, including assassinations and bombings. Davis explained that the Grey Wolves had a long-standing history of terrorism in Turkey, adding that the Erawan Shrine bomb was likely the work of a hybrid organisation that had somehow married the Wolves' capability with anger over the Uighur.

Police spokesman Pol Lt-General Prawut Thavornsiri, another panellist, said solving this case was very difficult because it was a first for Thailand. He added that making the bomb would have taken time, and the materials were not easy to find locally. He added that the suspect had tried to avoid facing the many surveillance cameras in the area, suggesting that it was a meticulously planned operation.

Prawut insisted the bomb could not have been just aimed at Chinese tourists. When questioned about the transparency of the investigation, he said the answer would come when the suspect is arrested. "It's just been seven days, not seven years," he said to the question posed by The Nation.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Police-to-simulate-bombings-at-testing-site-as-par-30267446.html


-- The Nation 2015-08-26

[Thai at Heart]

Why does Janes have an analyst sitting in Bangkok? They are a massive CIA front and everyone in Thai law enforcement knows it.

[wxpwzrd]

Probably because they lost so much forensic evidence on the original site. Or, they intend to use the same shoddy forensic investigation tactics on the test site as well.

[fred Kubasa]

Don't go anywhere near Erawan or even, be in Bangkok at all at "simulation " time. Thes Kops may well blow up the

entire city !

[Artisi]

Guy Fawkes night - don't forget your funny hats and sangers for the bonfire.

[outsider]

Preposterous that the bumbling nitwit can even mutter the words ""It's just been seven days, not seven years." The police nabbed the suspects in the Boston bombing incident in FOUR DAYS!!! Ok, I'll be fair and allow that not all cases are the same. But stop with the daily inconsequential commentaries already - the bombs are the same, the bombs are not the same, it's a foreigner, it's a local etc. etc. If anything, these commentaries do nothing but solidly underlines your and the RTP's stupidity and complete incompetence.

[poohy]

WHAT!? the police are going to blow it up now

[IAMHERE]

"...the materials were not easy to find locally"

What does that mean ? What is locally and what is it that is 'not easy' to find?

'Not easy' isn't the same as not possible so they must have a list of where to find these materials in Bangkok.

[lildragon]

How does this help catch the still free perps exactly?

[slapout]

s someone once said '' not easy and difficult will be done today, the impossible; tommorow''

A real Abbot & Costello0 scene / movie. It would be fu8nny but these clowns are serious in trying to convience people they know what thyey are doing. May the gods protect the innocent. Thor where are you?

[Kannikapor88]

What could possibly go wrong in that simulation ... ? They really dont have a clue of what to do now - I hope for them it will not happen again but will not hold my breath since all terrorists around the World have seen the mighty competence of RTP ...

[dannyman]

This is now so solved. THANK-YOU Mr .

[mijako]

Don't go anywhere near Erawan or even, be in Bangkok at all at "simulation " time. Thes Kops may well blow up the

entire city !

The simulations would take place at Hoob Saboo explosion-testing area in Phetchaburi's Cha-am district, he said.

Just read everything before posting

[Gandtee]

Another reenactment? Will the police for their usual photo op be standing, pointing at the explosion? Curiouser and curiouser?

[speedtripler]

Another reenactment? Will the police for their usual photo op be standing, pointing at the explosion? Curiouser and curiouser?

They will make a fake shrine full size 1:1 and then blow it up with a pipe bomb

Victims of the first bomb will be invited to point at the second and then we will need to interrogate them to compare the bombings and see if they can remember anything new....

[JHolmesJr]

To get this absobloodylutely right.....the guy pushing the detonator MUST be wearing a yello gucci tshirt and a bad wig with wristbands.....otherwise we'll be robbed of authenticity.

[taony]

As long as there are at least five people pointing to the hole in the ground after the explosion, it should prove fruitful.

[Acharn]

Probably because they lost so much forensic evidence on the original site. Or, they intend to use the same shoddy forensic investigation tactics on the test site as well.

The RTP have a very odd attitude to forensic science. It might be because Thai courts prefer witness testimony to physical evidence, but the most famous Thai forensic scientist, Dr. Phorntip, has a very contentious relationship with senior police officials. She seems to delight in pissing them off. She has her own blind spots, though, having supported the purchase of the phony CT 200 "bomb detectors." I can't imagine what bomb "simulations" would help with if they don't even know if the two bombs used the same kind of explosive. I suppose it's just that setting off bombs is fun, and they want to take advantage of the chance to do it.

[15Peter20]

I give them a fighting chance of figuring out who will have been responsible for the simulation. But you never know with this lot...

[Halion]

Simulated tests for what ? Usual Police bullshit saying that we are doing something that will lead nowhere

[Thai at Heart]

If they know accurately enough to make a reenactment, why do they need a reenactment?

[Torrens54]

Hang on !

Didn't a TV station get into big trouble for attempting to "re-enact" the event in the hope that it might help ?

I commented at the time, that this sort of thing is often done in the First World, with the co-operation of the Police etc., but everyone was too busy Kicking the Hell out of the TV Station to take any notice. TIT !!!

[Thai at Heart]

Hang on !

Didn't a TV station get into big trouble for attempting to "re-enact" the event in the hope that it might help ?

I commented at the time, that this sort of thing is often done in the First World, with the co-operation of the Police etc., but everyone was too busy Kicking the Hell out of the TV Station to take any notice. TIT !!!

So prey tell, what is to be gained by trying to guess exactly how big and of what material this is made of on a testing ground.

An expert with computer mapping could achieve the same result. So they can recreate the bomb.

And......

Western police forces don't do this because it proves nothing.

Experienced knowledge of analysing the site along with chemical residue and looking at the damage and wound to the victims will prove 100 times more than recreating this in a controlled environment.

Edited August 26, 2015 by Thai at Heart

[balo]

What do we need a simulation for ? To prevent it from happening again ? Something is missing here,

[Thai at Heart]

What do we need a simulation for ? To prevent it from happening again ? Something is missing here,

If they had bothered to go over the original site as thoroughly as they should have, this exercise would be utterly redundant.

It's a punch and Judy show.

[Jingthing]

Well, ya know, the police love to do reenactments of crimes here and since it seems clear now they're not going to catch backpack bomb boy, this will be as good as it gets. And nobody to point at either.

[Ceruhe]

Are they also going to reenact the clean up? lol

[Jingthing]

Are they also going to reenact the clean up? lol

No of course not.

They'll secure the site for weeks and call in the international experts to examine the scene ... this time ...