Floundering Bomb Investigation Deepens Doubts About Competency

[Charlie Croker]

I believe they know it was the Uighurs but haven't a clue as to how to deal with international terrorism. It also severely damages their tourism.

Why bother coming to Thailand to bomb the Chinese?

Better off going to China I'd have thought.

Besides when have they ever bombed anywhere?

If they 'knew' why not release details?

If you read the history of the Grey Wolves right up to the protests at the Thai embasy in Turkey over the turk/ chinese uighurs you will see that they have highly trained military factions they have carried out many terorist attacks in many countries, including trying to assasinate the pope, they have highly trained personel.

Wikipedia gives a detailed account of their activity.

Seeing this could be aimed at Chinese and tourism in Thailand it looks more and more plausible than any other theory I would say highly probable that this was in retaliation for the deporting of the Uighurs.

Ok why not claim responsibility for it, if they are safe and sound in Turkey then?

The simplest answer is usually correct. Despite claims that 'no Thai person would do this', how many bombings have happened in Bangkok of the past 7 years?

They were all down to red shirts protesting political issues.

Also the same group who seem intent on crippling the economy, although I agree with that the target is the tourist industry, but not the Chinese.

Grey wolves- don't make me laugh- I have to agree with what Bluespunk said.

[tbthailand]

Deepens Doubts ???

come on, they'd have to buy those chinese subs to get any deeper...

[Benmart]

And issuing arrest warrants for unknown people seems strange to me.

Use Google or any other search engine to look up "John Doe Warrants".

[lvr181]

"Somyot on Monday said police would seek the prosecution of anyone spreading false information, whether it was spread through a smartphone or television broadcast."

Does this imply he will arrest any of his spokepersons or himself?

[retarius]

No one has ever doubted the incompetency of the RTP. No one has ever doubted that it is a completely out-of-control, mafia-like, corrupt organization, that runs drugs, vice and other evils in the country. Promotion is via kickbacks and totally unrelated to honesty of competence. It is a failed institution which fails in its basic duty to uphold the laws. It needs closing down and a new start made with the condition that no existing management level officer can be re-enrolled.

[Benmart]

all you experts jumping in here and critisizing but not offering a solution need to <deleted>

I am no fan of the Thail police and I find them seriously lacking in trainging and the level of corruption we all know about

That said - I can see no way they could do much better than they are doing now, big city, swamped with tourists - seriously what would you have them do ?

so they could have done a little more at the crime scene and I agree with that, but at the end of the day some skinny coward walked up to a popular tourist spot with a bomb in a bag- left it there and calmly walked away - wearing possibly a wig and other stuff to hide his identity supposed to be talking English, but the biggest clue to this event is the fact that nobody claimed it

The police are entrusted and empowered to "find a solution" and not to rely on laypeople to offer one. I never was so clueless as to approach a bystander and ask "How can I proceed in this investigation?". "What do I do next?". "What do you think, Mr. Citizen?".

"That said - I can see no way they could do much better than they are doing now, big city, swamped with tourists - seriously what would you have them do ?".

Wear the uniform and experience doing the job. Then reflect on how lame this would be if using it as justification for doing a poor job, let alone the legal consequences that would follow.

Police that are properly trained, commonly respond in a certain fashion to a major incident:

1. Arrive at the scene

2. Quick survey for safety

3. Call for backup/resources/fire/medical/supervisors

3. Secure the scene/Aid the injured if safe to do so.

4. Detain suspects

and so on....

The initial sequence may vary, but the basic steps are commonplace in many professional agencies that I'm familiar with, be it SE Asia (Singapore/Hong Kong), North America or Western Europe.

I wonder how much of the radio traffic and dispatching was recorded with the telemetry (CAD-Computer Aided Dispatch ) that is available and in use worldwide. These tools come in handy when reviewing/investigating the who, what, when, why, etc.

From an outsider looking in, the view is a sad one indeed.

[mpdkorat]

I do not see why this is any more difficult to investigate than the Boston or London train/bus bombings.

Edited August 29, 2015 by mpdkorat

[csabo]

all you experts jumping in here and critisizing but not offering a solution need to <deleted>

I am no fan of the Thail police and I find them seriously lacking in trainging and the level of corruption we all know about

That said - I can see no way they could do much better than they are doing now, big city, swamped with tourists - seriously what would you have them do ?

so they could have done a little more at the crime scene and I agree with that, but at the end of the day some skinny coward walked up to a popular tourist spot with a bomb in a bag- left it there and calmly walked away - wearing possibly a wig and other stuff to hide his identity supposed to be talking English, but the biggest clue to this event is the fact that nobody claimed it

"What would you have them do?"

Identify the explosives and bomb making materials, origin, manufacturer, suppliers purchasers. Canvas canvas canvas, any potential hotels apartments restaurants bars where suspects may have originated from or went to. Scrub the streets for surveillance video within a 15 block radius of the crime. Put money on the street, lots of it. Make a deal with the mafia to produce information. Initiate an Interpol MO sheet. Reserve a floor at a five star hotel and fill the rooms with FBI bombing and anti terrorist specialists. That should keep'em busy for a week. Get back to me with results and I'll tell you what to do next.

[lwn320]

You are joking right ? There must be some logic in your argument but I fail to see it.

The general public feel safe if there is a competent and professionally run police force. Misinformation , conflicting information and silly information is no way for the public to feel protected.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Patje55]

Unless the attack will be claimed , no-one of this "bunch" of professionals will be able to solve it .

Will the bomber or his group please come forward ? So the authorities can go to sleep again

[smotherb]

When first the government refused the help of the UK explosives experts followed by the suggestion that the police could get pointers from American television, one knew all was lost.

The UK police sure didn't seem to help with the Koh Tao murders; perhaps American TV could offer pointers; maybe something more concrete than Thais could not be that cruel. The point that bothers me is when was their any doubt about Thai police competency?

[allan michaud]

“I don’t believe Thai people are the perpetrators … because the incident is a behavior that is too cruel for Thai people with Thai hearts to do to their fellow Thais,” Deputy Police Chief Chaktip Chaijinda said yesterday.

Yeah, right....

Fishermen throwing slaves off ships to die, murdering hundreds (probably thousands) of Rohinga and other refugees, back in the 70's they burnt communist rebels alive in oil barrels. Lovely people the Thai's.

[smedly]

all you experts jumping in here and critisizing but not offering a solution need to <deleted>

I am no fan of the Thail police and I find them seriously lacking in trainging and the level of corruption we all know about

That said - I can see no way they could do much better than they are doing now, big city, swamped with tourists - seriously what would you have them do ?

so they could have done a little more at the crime scene and I agree with that, but at the end of the day some skinny coward walked up to a popular tourist spot with a bomb in a bag- left it there and calmly walked away - wearing possibly a wig and other stuff to hide his identity supposed to be talking English, but the biggest clue to this event is the fact that nobody claimed it

The police are entrusted and empowered to "find a solution" and not to rely on laypeople to offer one. I never was so clueless as to approach a bystander and ask "How can I proceed in this investigation?". "What do I do next?". "What do you think, Mr. Citizen?".

"That said - I can see no way they could do much better than they are doing now, big city, swamped with tourists - seriously what would you have them do ?".

Wear the uniform and experience doing the job. Then reflect on how lame this would be if using it as justification for doing a poor job, let alone the legal consequences that would follow.

Police that are properly trained, commonly respond in a certain fashion to a major incident:

1. Arrive at the scene

2. Quick survey for safety

3. Call for backup/resources/fire/medical/supervisors

3. Secure the scene/Aid the injured if safe to do so.

4. Detain suspects

and so on....

The initial sequence may vary, but the basic steps are commonplace in many professional agencies that I'm familiar with, be it SE Asia (Singapore/Hong Kong), North America or Western Europe.

I wonder how much of the radio traffic and dispatching was recorded with the telemetry (CAD-Computer Aided Dispatch ) that is available and in use worldwide. These tools come in handy when reviewing/investigating the who, what, when, why, etc.

From an outsider looking in, the view is a sad one indeed.

all of what you say is true but number 4. above is the tricky one, there is no easy way to find the culprits, this was an unusual event in Thailand, it is unclaimed and even the motive is a mystery to some extent, there is no easy way to narrow it down and direct an investigation to a certain group which would be the first step in finding those responsible, the second step would be from the public coming forward and at least identifying where these people lived while planning out this attack - there has been nothing, they appeared planted the bomb and disappeared again, no police force in the world would have an easy task tracking them down

[GerdT]

Before shouting about police incompetence and how brilliant everything works in the US or Europe here are two links that show that unsolved bombings are not unique to Thailand (I hope they get the people that committed the crime).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_European_Union

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/unsolved-bombings/view

With the resources available as far as money is concerned and that includes police training I think the RTP does a reasonable job.

One thing I have to agree on is, the statements released by higher up police officers should stick to facts and not express their personal feelings since solving the crime requires evidence.

[EnglishJohn]

all you experts jumping in here and critisizing but not offering a solution need to <deleted>

I am no fan of the Thail police and I find them seriously lacking in trainging and the level of corruption we all know about

That said - I can see no way they could do much better than they are doing now, big city, swamped with tourists - seriously what would you have them do ?

so they could have done a little more at the crime scene and I agree with that, but at the end of the day some skinny coward walked up to a popular tourist spot with a bomb in a bag- left it there and calmly walked away - wearing possibly a wig and other stuff to hide his identity supposed to be talking English, but the biggest clue to this event is the fact that nobody claimed it

That's total twaddle.

1. You don't employ a police force to make an effort- its only and always results which count.

2. Who could do better? - the USA had the Boston bombers cornered in around 24 hours

3. You don't spout theories without proof, the facts determine the theory, not the other way around

4. The FACT that there is no evidence of the bomber after the bombing says what? No hints you make the call.

5. Look at the most likely perpetrators in trying to find the culprit- who has thrown bombs recently in Bangkok? - Now start investigating there.

6. Don't sweep everything away, like something to be ashamed of. Close the site and make this a national tragedy that everyone is focused on solving.

7. No evidence of the person leaving the country by usual ports? What does that tell you.

8. Disguises- get expert help to provide alternative appearances we could all be looking for.

Smedley - I disagree with you.there are many lessons to be learned here about how not to handle this situation.

I agree : there is a big, square faced elephant in the room which everybody is avoiding as much as they can.

Why ? - his cronies are everywhere. Just mentioning 'a political group in the North East' caused the media to forget about the bomb and run story after story about how he should not be pointing fingers. I haven't seen any article in any newspaper take that option seriously - even though the only argument I have seen against it is 'a Thai could not do this to another Thai'. The Dawson guy on Bangkok Post even criticised them for not investigating if it was a Mafia attack, designed to hide the real victim in a pile of bodies !!!.

The reason we are looking at every possibility except that one (in public at least) is that the red-shirt propaganda department will quickly turn it into 'elite persecuting the poor' and it will be used as an excuse to go out and murder a few people as well as get the cattle foaming at the mouth even more than they are now. If support looks good enough, it might even be worth laying on some buses for a major protest, get a few thugs to shoot at the army then hope they shoot back and kill a few innocent people for some international publicity.

Thai's excel at dirty and dishonest politics - and there are plenty of people who see nothing wrong with that. We see their comments here every day to prove it.

[Brer Fox]

Don t be too hard on them,they have a good idea who they

are looking for,a man in yellow and a man in blue

regards worgeordie

And I thought they were looking for a gang of 10.

[off road pat]

all you experts jumping in here and critisizing but not offering a solution need to <deleted>

I am no fan of the Thail police and I find them seriously lacking in trainging and the level of corruption we all know about

That said - I can see no way they could do much better than they are doing now, big city, swamped with tourists - seriously what would you have them do ?

so they could have done a little more at the crime scene and I agree with that, but at the end of the day some skinny coward walked up to a popular tourist spot with a bomb in a bag- left it there and calmly walked away - wearing possibly a wig and other stuff to hide his identity supposed to be talking English, but the biggest clue to this event is the fact that nobody claimed it

They should have decent pictures or movies about the bomber.

I really can't believe they don't have them now. There are soo many camera's in the area and in the cars driving there.

What a shame the camera's all didn't work......

Yes , a shame those cameras diden't work,....maybe it's because ther'e dummies......some years ago a politician in charge (in the Taksin Shinawatra

Government) had a few thousend cameras instaled in Bangkok, half of them were fakes, and he charged the government the full amount as if there were all real.....!!!!

so ??? corruption comes back as a boumerang in the face.....

If you think of it,? if that politician was honest he would have instaled real cameras all the way....and they might have had good immages of the terrorist....!!!

Oh the Irony........

It could be so funny if there was no tragedy of dead and wounded people involved.....

Best regards,....

[harada]

Latest news from another source is that they are looking for 3 Uighurs who escaped prior to the deportation to China, surely they would have been photographed upon their arrest, and considering that they have a good pic of blue shirt man it shouldn't be hard to match up if it is one of them.

[stickylies]

“I don’t believe Thai people are the perpetrators … because the incident is a behaviour that is too cruel for Thai people with Thai hearts to do to their fellow Thais,” Deputy Police Chief Chaktip Chaijinda said yesterday.

people get the police force (and politicians) statements they deserve. you can laugh with the phrase above but it's what the majority of thai (want to) think. if long enough in thailand know very well it's an automatic reflex to blame others. it's not xenophobia, it's thainess. for us the phrase above sounds utter idiotic. for most thai it sounds reassuring and comforting. their nation of thai is holy. the enemy is someone else.

[amerasianex]

Well im sure some place in the world has experts who would help. Like the USA or UK. &lt;deleted&gt; is wrong with letting them help? The Thai police may be able to actually learn something....Their refusal to accept help from experts just makes them look so very stupid and it casts suspicion on the whole bombing itself....Amazing Thailand....

[samsensam]

all you experts jumping in here and critisizing but not offering a solution need to <deleted>

I am no fan of the Thail police and I find them seriously lacking in trainging and the level of corruption we all know about

That said - I can see no way they could do much better than they are doing now, big city, swamped with tourists - seriously what would you have them do ?

so they could have done a little more at the crime scene and I agree with that, but at the end of the day some skinny coward walked up to a popular tourist spot with a bomb in a bag- left it there and calmly walked away - wearing possibly a wig and other stuff to hide his identity supposed to be talking English, but the biggest clue to this event is the fact that nobody claimed it

They could have done quite a few things better:

- accepted the offer of help from foreign professionals

- sealed and tented off the crime scene as soon as possible and for as long as necessary to enable a professional forensic examination to gather as much evidence as possible - instead of allowing people to wander all over it and wash everything away the next day

- have a professional media operation to control the supply of accurate information

- dont make daft statements like; it couldn't be a thai because i thai woudnt do such a thing...

- dont jump to conclusions e.g. the two 'accomplices' who turned out to be tour guides

just a few common sense ideas....

[aguy30]

Floundering Bomb Investigation Deepens Confirms Doubts About Competency

It seems that the police could/should enlist some outside help in finding the answer. Maybe a package of Chinese tea leaves to read instead of the Thai variety would help reveal the perpetrators.

Edited August 29, 2015 by aguy30

[Spleen]

all you experts jumping in here and critisizing but not offering a solution need to <deleted>

I am no fan of the Thail police and I find them seriously lacking in trainging and the level of corruption we all know about

That said - I can see no way they could do much better than they are doing now, big city, swamped with tourists - seriously what would you have them do ?

so they could have done a little more at the crime scene and I agree with that, but at the end of the day some skinny coward walked up to a popular tourist spot with a bomb in a bag- left it there and calmly walked away - wearing possibly a wig and other stuff to hide his identity supposed to be talking English, but the biggest clue to this event is the fact that nobody claimed it

I don't see how you think thats a clue , who would claim it. Uighur's wouldn't , because the Chinese would probably respond by murdering the rest of the people, if there are any left alive that Thailand sent back. Also they may well launch an attack on Xingjang. Southern Muslims wouldn't, they don't want the Army out not swarming all over them more than what they are. And I suppose you mean Thaksin and his boys. That imo is the most unlikely scenario , he has absolutely nothing to gain from this. I'd wager on some form of Muslim attack as revenge for the Uighur and Rohingyas , sold , kept in captivity and murdered

[off road pat]

Before shouting about police incompetence and how brilliant everything works in the US or Europe here are two links that show that unsolved bombings are not unique to Thailand (I hope they get the people that committed the crime).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_European_Union

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/unsolved-bombings/view

With the resources available as far as money is concerned and that includes police training I think the RTP does a reasonable job.

One thing I have to agree on is, the statements released by higher up police officers should stick to facts and not express their personal feelings since solving the crime requires evidence.

Excellent observation,....With the evidence known to the public, the RTP has not much to go on....

If the Bomb making was a professional job, the hiding of the perpetrator's identity, appearance and getaway might also been a professional job.!

And if the RTP high ranking officers didn't give conflicting and baseless statements they might have been taken seriously....but hey made fools of themselves.

Stupid Thai "loss of face" again, To bad in such a important case.....!

Best regards, Off Road Pat.

[bangon04]

Lets be fair to the police. They have no training in such matters as terrorism. They can go to the scene of a road accident but even that leaves a lot to be desired. If, and I doubt if they do, want to be considered as a competant force then accept the offer frrom the UK and use the experience to learn from it. Then purchase the necessary equipment required. Yes the high speed train project will have to be shelved but who cares? No one really wants it anyway.

Let them show just how good they really are by accepting their limitations and learning from highly qualified professionals from overseas. Credibility will follow

On the subject of saving face - They don't even have to go to the Farang countries to ask for help. The Hong Kong police have a well-developed forensic and investigative section. Much better than the Thais have. Also Singapore has a far superior police system than Thailand.

Let us gloss over the fact that both of the aforementioned were trained by the farang originally.

[off road pat]

It would have been appropriate to name and shame the moron who ordered to hose and clean up the place before thorough forensic investigation were finalized.

It would have also been appropriate to do the same to the guy who circumvented the help of professional foreign experts, stating this would harm the great nations sovereignty...

As long as no one has the cojones to publicly name these guys and suspend them, this will be the hub of amateurs.

And in the same effort punish the guy that has those dummy cameras installed....!!!

[rebelplatoon]

Odd isn't it? Center Bangkok, cctv, witnesses, police on hand, immense (obsessive) immigration laws, but when there's a terrible event like this...no results.

[yuv06]

Turkish suspect arrested in Bangkok with bomb making materials

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Turkish-suspect-arrested-in-Bangkok-with-bomb-maki-30267729.html?

[yuv06]

Where is all the bashing now

[JamesH]

Maybe everyone has been too quick to prejudge.