Bangkok Bomb Suspect Arrested

[Fat Haggis]

Some enterprising resauranteur should have a special "All you can eat buffet" of humble pie and crow tonight.

Heck, I'll happily pay the bill for some TV members too.

Congratulations to the police and thanks to the informant for the breakthrough.

1 million baht was offered as a reward, more than enough for a neigbor to report a suspicious tenant. Now the rest is up to RTP.

Have you also forgotten that Thaksin put up a reward too?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's Reuters' report, which doesn't really say this guy is or is not the main Erawan bomber:

http://news.yahoo.com/thai-police-suspect-bangkok-bombing-arrested-091936097.html

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Police hunting the perpetrators of Thailand's deadliest bombing arrested on Saturday a foreigner they said matched the description of a man who left a bag at the crowded site of a blast in Bangkok nearly two weeks ago.

Police raided a four-floor budget apartment in a suburb of the capital and found fake passports and bomb-making materials possibly used in the Aug. 17 attack at a Hindu shrine that killed 20 people and shook Bangkok's bustling commercial heart.

The suspect was a 28-year-old foreigner who had been in Thailand since January last year and was being held at a military facility on initial charges of possessing illegal explosives, police said.

"It's unlikely to be terrorism. It's not an international terrorist act," Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told a news conference.

Somyot did not explain how police had come to that conclusion, but said the motive was "taking personal revenge for his comrades". He did not elaborate.
.....

National police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said more people were being sought and evidence pointed to the arrested man's involvement in a second bomb a day later in the city's Sathorn area, which caused no damage.

"We found he's connected to both Bangkok blasts," Prawut said. "We believe the perpetrators are from the same group."

MORE:

Edited August 29, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[BeefSlapper]

Here's Reuters' report, which doesn't really say this guy is or is not the main Erawan bomber:

http://news.yahoo.com/thai-police-suspect-bangkok-bombing-arrested-091936097.html

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Police hunting the perpetrators of Thailand's deadliest bombing arrested on Saturday a foreigner they said matched the description of a man who left a bag at the crowded site of a blast in Bangkok nearly two weeks ago.

Police raided a four-floor budget apartment in a suburb of the capital and found fake passports and bomb-making materials possibly used in the Aug. 17 attack at a Hindu shrine that killed 20 people and shook Bangkok's bustling commercial heart.

The suspect was a 28-year-old foreigner who had been in Thailand since January last year and was being held at a military facility on initial charges of possessing illegal explosives, police said.

"It's unlikely to be terrorism. It's not an international terrorist act," Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told a news conference.

Somyot did not explain how police had come to that conclusion, but said the motive was "taking personal revenge for his comrades". He did not elaborate.

MORE:

Cops said 2h ago that its not but might be connected

[jimky]

RT@W7VOA: Police display one of the passport seized in room of #BangkokBlast suspect (no confirmation if real identity). http://t.co/yJCvVWKvaG

Why does it say date of expiry two times?

Someone with same passport let us know if Date of Expiry is listed twice on yours.

It forgery (low budget). Thai media already reported this.

They have now but pretty sure they hadn't when I questioned it. I caught that on the live TV stream shot while reading this forum, and twitter live feed, and was like ? and asked. It unfortunately took about 20 minutes for them to start mentioning fake passport, initially saying were looking to get confirmation from Turkey, and about 40 minutes before was consistently called that. Foreign media including CNN posted a Turkish National has been arrested, going off the initial report. Much foreign media still hasn't even corrected that.

Edited August 29, 2015 by jimky

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's Reuters' report, which doesn't really say this guy is or is not the main Erawan bomber:

http://news.yahoo.com/thai-police-suspect-bangkok-bombing-arrested-091936097.html

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Police hunting the perpetrators of Thailand's deadliest bombing arrested on Saturday a foreigner they said matched the description of a man who left a bag at the crowded site of a blast in Bangkok nearly two weeks ago.

Police raided a four-floor budget apartment in a suburb of the capital and found fake passports and bomb-making materials possibly used in the Aug. 17 attack at a Hindu shrine that killed 20 people and shook Bangkok's bustling commercial heart.

The suspect was a 28-year-old foreigner who had been in Thailand since January last year and was being held at a military facility on initial charges of possessing illegal explosives, police said.

"It's unlikely to be terrorism. It's not an international terrorist act," Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told a news conference.

Somyot did not explain how police had come to that conclusion, but said the motive was "taking personal revenge for his comrades". He did not elaborate.

MORE:

Cops said 2h ago that its not but might be connected

Yes... I know that. But not everyone reading here on page 19 of the thread might...

[mcfish]

Well they were under pressure to arrest somebody... anybody. Now they just have to plant and fabricate evidence. Case solved.

Kind of inflammatory, Sherlock. I wouldn't say that in public

+1 it only takes one aggroTV member to forward that post to the authorities

[pmugghc]

So many posters seem upset the police may have busted the terrorist gang- and from a tip-off too! From what I've seen police forces around the world rely on tip-offs, sometimes they ignore them as in The World Trade Centre attacks where flying instructors warned the police their Saudi students weren't interested in learning how to take off or land a plane, just how to fly!, but the police ignored them.

Well done whoever, apartment owner and/or police if you have started to crack this case.

of course the reward money played NO PART in it?

It's not that posters are upset, it's the incredible way in which the investigation was run, if you want to believe that the RTP are up there with the likes of the FBI, you crack on my old sunshine.

The RTP have proven to be sealers of their own fates, their senior officers went on record to say the most dumbest, and alarming things, from the very thing that put tourism in jeopardy by stating "It was an internal issue" or " No International Terrorist group responsible" well chief, last time I looked, being Turkish was pretty International to me, so what spin will they put on this now regarding their life blood... tourism?

I worked for a very senior Deputy Department of Defence staff member back in 2010, and in a meeting with the Japanese Ambassador down in Basrah, he stated quite brazenly "There is no terrorsim, nor terrorists left in Basrah, it's safe to bring your investors in" ... a week later 3 car bombs went off, killing dozens of innocent people.. talk about speaking out of turn, and looking like a knob, needless to say, Japanese Investors held back.

This is what the senior RTP bosses have been doing.. The best thing would have been to shut their mouthes. Remember when Somyot stated it was a very special bomb, as not much was left of it evidence wise and hence why they sanitised and cleaned the place up within hours ? Now all of a sudden there's stuff that matches the Erawan shrine bomb?? So what is it? There was plenty of evidence, and you just lied about it to prevent and protect any sort of alarmist reaction with the tourism sector?

EVERYONE here wanted the ones responsible caught, and there's people here in this thread praising the RTP, who were constantly stating and implying it was the work of the red shirts, they should be hanging their heads in shame, and admitting they were VERY wrong, and apologising, but the majority of those poster wont, as they've developed "Thainess", they know who they are, shame on them.

Personally however I've said to a few posters in the past, in PM's there was a growing problem that's being ignored and being dismissed by the Thai authorities, as well as people here, in that terrorism is indeed spreading, it was only a matter of time, all the combat indicators were there, however more people were "fixated" with the domestic lunatics.

I'd like to have seen more in this find, I don't believe it's a major one, if anything it looks mickey mouse to be honest, no pipe bomb casings, no explosive, no detonators, no initiators, no serious tools, no crimpers, wire strippers, soldering equipment...

I'll save the fanfare personally till something more significant is found, like the source of the explosives, the bomb maker himself, if this guy is being touted as the bomb maker, then Thai EOD guys just need to ask him to create a simple circuit with the stuff that's been found, he's going to hang, he's got nothing to lose, if he can't complete a simple closed circuit diagram, then he's a red herring.

Long post, but they have posted photos of detonators, ballbearings, and on Thai media pipes that could be used for bombs.

But I guess all that doesn't fit your agenda.

[Fat Haggis]

There are some real smart.ss people here who know it all even though they haven't seen all the stuff they found inside the room. I am with some Chinese people and they have shown me images already 2 hours ago that are slowly being shown here now. 1 of them is post 452.

And there is one real smart person here who is sure that this is only a human trafficking case.

And these Chinese people you're with who got these pictures 2 hours ago, received them from whom? Their connections with the RTP are what? Are you saying/implying that pictures are being "leaked" to some Chinese recipients ?

I'd have thought that the RTP would have had all this "explosives" on show during the press conference, none of the online national news outlets have these pictures at present, your friends must be pretty "influential" people

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's AFP's report:

http://news.yahoo.com/thai-police-arrest-man-likely-involved-bangkok-bombing-094927225.html

Bangkok bomb suspect 'unlikely' international terrorist

.

View photo

A handout photo from the Royal Thai police released on August 29, 2015 showing Turkish national Adem …

Bangkok (AFP) - Thailand's top police officer Saturday said a man arrested in connection with last week's deadly Bangkok bomb attack was "unlikely" to be an international terrorist and was motivated by a "personal feud".

"He is a foreigner, but it's unlikely that he is an international terrorist, it's a personal feud," national police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters at the Royal Thai Police headquarters as broadcast live on Thai PBS.

"He got angry on behalf of his friends and family members," Somyot added, without elaborating further.

Neither Somyot nor Thailand's national police spokesman responded to calls from AFP for further comment on the nature of the suspect's motivations.

The bomb on Monday 17 August was Thailand's worst single mass-casualty attack, killing 20 people, the majority of whom were ethnic Chinese tourists from across Asia.

Thailand's junta have been at pains to play down international terrorist groups as likely suspects, as well as suggestions that the attackers may have deliberately targeted a shrine known for its popularity with Chinese devotees.

The country's vital tourist sector is one of the few bright spots at a time when much of the rest of the kingdom's economy is flagging.

Potential perpetrators named by the police and experts have included international jihadists, members of Thailand's southern Malay-Muslim insurgency, militants on both sides of Thailand's festering political divide or someone with a personal grudge.

[balo]

So many posters seem upset the police may have busted the terrorist gang- and from a tip-off too! From what I've seen police forces around the world rely on tip-offs, sometimes they ignore them as in The World Trade Centre attacks where flying instructors warned the police their Saudi students weren't interested in learning how to take off or land a plane, just how to fly!, but the police ignored them.

Well done whoever, apartment owner and/or police if you have started to crack this case.

of course the reward money played NO PART in it?

It's not that posters are upset, it's the incredible way in which the investigation was run, if you want to believe that the RTP are up there with the likes of the FBI, you crack on my old sunshine.

The RTP have proven to be sealers of their own fates, their senior officers went on record to say the most dumbest, and alarming things, from the very thing that put tourism in jeopardy by stating "It was an internal issue" or " No International Terrorist group responsible" well chief, last time I looked, being Turkish was pretty International to me, so what spin will they put on this now regarding their life blood... tourism?

I worked for a very senior Deputy Department of Defence staff member back in 2010, and in a meeting with the Japanese Ambassador down in Basrah, he stated quite brazenly "There is no terrorsim, nor terrorists left in Basrah, it's safe to bring your investors in" ... a week later 3 car bombs went off, killing dozens of innocent people.. talk about speaking out of turn, and looking like a knob, needless to say, Japanese Investors held back.

This is what the senior RTP bosses have been doing.. The best thing would have been to shut their mouthes. Remember when Somyot stated it was a very special bomb, as not much was left of it evidence wise and hence why they sanitised and cleaned the place up within hours ? Now all of a sudden there's stuff that matches the Erawan shrine bomb?? So what is it? There was plenty of evidence, and you just lied about it to prevent and protect any sort of alarmist reaction with the tourism sector?

EVERYONE here wanted the ones responsible caught, and there's people here in this thread praising the RTP, who were constantly stating and implying it was the work of the red shirts, they should be hanging their heads in shame, and admitting they were VERY wrong, and apologising, but the majority of those poster wont, as they've developed "Thainess", they know who they are, shame on them.

Personally however I've said to a few posters in the past, in PM's there was a growing problem that's being ignored and being dismissed by the Thai authorities, as well as people here, in that terrorism is indeed spreading, it was only a matter of time, all the combat indicators were there, however more people were "fixated" with the domestic lunatics.

I'd like to have seen more in this find, I don't believe it's a major one, if anything it looks mickey mouse to be honest, no pipe bomb casings, no explosive, no detonators, no initiators, no serious tools, no crimpers, wire strippers, soldering equipment...

I'll save the fanfare personally till something more significant is found, like the source of the explosives, the bomb maker himself, if this guy is being touted as the bomb maker, then Thai EOD guys just need to ask him to create a simple circuit with the stuff that's been found, he's going to hang, he's got nothing to lose, if he can't complete a simple closed circuit diagram, then he's a red herring.

Long post, but they have posted photos of detonators, ballbearings, and on Thai media pipes that could be used for bombs.

But I guess all that doesn't fit your agenda.

They found detonators, ballbearings pipes etc. How much more evidence do you want Fat Higgis ?

Please can you just for once believe that RTP catched the right guy ?

[Nemesis7]

Another drama, with planted plotting. Far from reality as always just like the Kh tao murder case.

Seriously? would he still stay at BKK after all that incident? i thought the Indonesians said its similar to their nature of bombing???

so now its Turkish right?

If he is genuinely guilty hang him with out any delay, but what if he isnt?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's AP's report:

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6e651f17d9dc4c46b7a9310f2d69e400/latest-bangkok-blast-police-find-bomb-making-parts

BANGKOK (AP) — The latest on the arrest of a suspect in the Bangkok shrine bombing (all times local):

7.30 p.m.

Thailand's police chief says the bomb making material found in the apartment of a suspect is "the same, similar or the same type" as that used in the deadly bombing at a Bangkok shrine earlier this month.

The suspect, identified by police as a 28-year-old foreign man, was arrested Saturday from an apartment in a Bangkok suburb. It was the first possible breakthrough in the investigation into the Aug. 17 bombing of the Erawan shrine in central Bangkok, which killed 20 people and injured scores.

A day later another bomb exploded harmlessly in a separate neighborhood.

Police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters: "The bomb materials are the same, similar or the same type" as the ones used in the two bombs.

Asked what could be the motive for the bombing, Somyot said "it's a personal grudge .. not international terrorism." He did not elaborate or give a clear explanation.

Somyot said the suspect had traveled in and out of the country since January 2014.

— Nattasuda Anusonadisai, Bangkok

6 p.m.

Thai authorities say a foreigner arrested in connection with the deadly Bangkok bombing was found in possession of illegal explosives and a number of passports.

Police spokesman Prawuth Thavornsiri said in a televised statement that police also found bomb making materials such as detonators and a metal pipe with lids, apparently meant to be used as a bomb.

He said that all this was found from the 28-year-old man's apartment in the outskirts of Bangkok. The apartment was raided on Saturday by the police and the military who had been searching the area since morning.

He said several passports were found in the apartment but did not say from which country.

Prawuth said the suspect is most likely related to the Aug. 17 bombing of the Erawan shrine in central Bangkok which left 20 people dead, including several foreigners, and more than 120 people injured. A day later another bomb exploded in the Sathorn area of Bangkok but did not cause any injuries.

He said the suspect is being held by the military for interrogation.

He said "from our preliminary checks, he is related to both bombings ... We believe he is a culprit in the same network."

— Nattasuda Anusonadisai, Bangkok

[Covenant]

You are living in la la land. The photo looks nothing like the suspect. If you think that the criticism is unprecedented then I pity you. Whilst I want the real culprit caught that doesn't mean getting anyone off the street who looks the same ethnicity. Shame on you for supporting this.

Well done RTP, after unprecedented criticism, it looks like they have actually done a very good job. We all wanted this guy caught.

You have met the suspect? I believe they only have the artist impression so far, so well done you for your expert analysis. Also, I don't think they 'got him off the street' either, maybe your reading skills are also lacking.

What a numpty.

[BeefSlapper]

[Andrew65]

Amongst the materials found, some ball-bearings, a tool kit, and some machinery!

[cookee68]

Another terrorist scum bag, if they found bomb making stuff then fry his arse

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

"He is a foreigner, but it's unlikely that he is an international terrorist, it's a personal feud," national police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters at the Royal Thai Police headquarters as broadcast live on Thai PBS.

"He got angry on behalf of his friends and family members," Somyot added, without elaborating further.

The news reports above, strangely, don't make any mention of the specific group. But you'd almost certainly assume Somyot is referring to the Thai government's recent deportation of the Uighurs back to China.

[BKKdreaming]

nice to see that the vest was NOT from Thailand,

https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow

How did it get in this story ?

[halloween]

<snip>

I'll save the fanfare personally till something more significant is found, like the source of the explosives, the bomb maker himself, if this guy is being touted as the bomb maker, then Thai EOD guys just need to ask him to create a simple circuit with the stuff that's been found, he's going to hang, he's got nothing to lose, if he can't complete a simple closed circuit diagram, then he's a red herring.

I'm sure the suspect will be happy to demonstrate how to wire a bomb to prove his guilt. Or he could pretend to be stupid.

[Johpa]

The guy doesnt look remotely Turkish

Crikey, if there is one nationality that I can't identify simply by looking at the face it is Turks. And I have traveled in Turkey, I lived with a Turkish family during my college years, and I still have Turkish friends, but I have yet to find anything in the facial features that would alert me to somebody being Turkish although there are some hints that somebody comes from somewhere in Central Asia ranging from modern Turkey to the western most regions of modern China where the Uyghurs reside. Oops, oh my, Uyghurs are an ethnic Turkic group speaking a Turkic language.

[BeefSlapper]

Cops They showed suide west on tv from 2013.

Went viral

Now they say anyone sharing it will be prosecuted

[Fat Haggis]

So many posters seem upset the police may have busted the terrorist gang- and from a tip-off too! From what I've seen police forces around the world rely on tip-offs, sometimes they ignore them as in The World Trade Centre attacks where flying instructors warned the police their Saudi students weren't interested in learning how to take off or land a plane, just how to fly!, but the police ignored them.

Well done whoever, apartment owner and/or police if you have started to crack this case.

of course the reward money played NO PART in it?

It's not that posters are upset, it's the incredible way in which the investigation was run, if you want to believe that the RTP are up there with the likes of the FBI, you crack on my old sunshine.

The RTP have proven to be sealers of their own fates, their senior officers went on record to say the most dumbest, and alarming things, from the very thing that put tourism in jeopardy by stating "It was an internal issue" or " No International Terrorist group responsible" well chief, last time I looked, being Turkish was pretty International to me, so what spin will they put on this now regarding their life blood... tourism?

I worked for a very senior Deputy Department of Defence staff member back in 2010, and in a meeting with the Japanese Ambassador down in Basrah, he stated quite brazenly "There is no terrorsim, nor terrorists left in Basrah, it's safe to bring your investors in" ... a week later 3 car bombs went off, killing dozens of innocent people.. talk about speaking out of turn, and looking like a knob, needless to say, Japanese Investors held back.

This is what the senior RTP bosses have been doing.. The best thing would have been to shut their mouthes. Remember when Somyot stated it was a very special bomb, as not much was left of it evidence wise and hence why they sanitised and cleaned the place up within hours ? Now all of a sudden there's stuff that matches the Erawan shrine bomb?? So what is it? There was plenty of evidence, and you just lied about it to prevent and protect any sort of alarmist reaction with the tourism sector?

EVERYONE here wanted the ones responsible caught, and there's people here in this thread praising the RTP, who were constantly stating and implying it was the work of the red shirts, they should be hanging their heads in shame, and admitting they were VERY wrong, and apologising, but the majority of those poster wont, as they've developed "Thainess", they know who they are, shame on them.

Personally however I've said to a few posters in the past, in PM's there was a growing problem that's being ignored and being dismissed by the Thai authorities, as well as people here, in that terrorism is indeed spreading, it was only a matter of time, all the combat indicators were there, however more people were "fixated" with the domestic lunatics.

I'd like to have seen more in this find, I don't believe it's a major one, if anything it looks mickey mouse to be honest, no pipe bomb casings, no explosive, no detonators, no initiators, no serious tools, no crimpers, wire strippers, soldering equipment...

I'll save the fanfare personally till something more significant is found, like the source of the explosives, the bomb maker himself, if this guy is being touted as the bomb maker, then Thai EOD guys just need to ask him to create a simple circuit with the stuff that's been found, he's going to hang, he's got nothing to lose, if he can't complete a simple closed circuit diagram, then he's a red herring.

Long post, but they have posted photos of detonators, ballbearings, and on Thai media pipes that could be used for bombs.

But I guess all that doesn't fit your agenda.

They found detonators, ballbearings pipes etc. How much more evidence do you want Fat Higgis ?

Please can you just for once believe that RTP catched the right guy ?

Sadly No I can't believe they caught the right guy, and neither does the Chief of Police apparently.

What more do I want? well clear pictures of ALL the evidence, not in the bags would be ideal if you have them.

pmugghc, zero agenda from this call sign, other than the truth from the mouthes of the senior RTP personnel conducting this investigation. The agendas are from a certain section of TVF who had this down as Red shirts.

I, like others want the correct people caught, so that they cannot detonate another device anywhere in Thailand, you arrest the wrong people, just means the potential for repeat incidents is there, I'd much rather the real perpetrators are caught, don't you?

[Tanlic]

Just a few hours ago I was reading all the neghead posts about how useless the Thai police are.

For fks sake give credit where credit is due......Well done all concerned BKK is now a safer place for out loved ones

To the RTP........... Thank you very much for your efforts

[coulson]

"He is a foreigner, but it's unlikely that he is an international terrorist, it's a personal feud," national police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters at the Royal Thai Police headquarters as broadcast live on Thai PBS.

"He got angry on behalf of his friends and family members," Somyot added, without elaborating further.

The news reports above, strangely, don't make any mention of the specific group. But you'd almost certainly assume Somyot is referring to the Thai government's recent deportation of the Uighurs back to China.

Interesting snippet, if he is proven related to any deportee......where did you get this report?

[Neeranam]

So many posters seem upset the police may have busted the terrorist gang- and from a tip-off too! From what I've seen police forces around the world rely on tip-offs, sometimes they ignore them as in The World Trade Centre attacks where flying instructors warned the police their Saudi students weren't interested in learning how to take off or land a plane, just how to fly!, but the police ignored them.

Well done whoever, apartment owner and/or police if you have started to crack this case.

EVERYONE here wanted the ones responsible caught, and there's people here in this thread praising the RTP, who were constantly stating and implying it was the work of the red shirts, they should be hanging their heads in shame, and admitting they were VERY wrong, and apologising, but the majority of those poster wont, as they've developed "Thainess", they know who they are, shame on them.

You don't know what Thainess is. Thainess is all positive qualities/characteristics. It is a topic taught in schools.

[Prbkk]

"He is a foreigner, but it's unlikely that he is an international terrorist, it's a personal feud," national police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters at the Royal Thai Police headquarters as broadcast live on Thai PBS.

"He got angry on behalf of his friends and family members," Somyot added, without elaborating further.

The news reports above, strangely, don't make any mention of the specific group. But you'd almost certainly assume Somyot is referring to the Thai government's recent deportation of the Uighurs back to China.

Well, yes. But surely someone asked the question in the press conference seeking clarication of that.

[MiKT]

Among the matterials, police found 0.5mm-diameter ball bearings that were the same type with the bombs that exploded at the Erawan Shrine and the Sathorn Bridge on August 17 and 18.

0.5 MILLIMETER? That's tiny, man. I imagine they'd do a lot of damage close to the bomb when they were at their highest velocity, but they couldn't have much mass. They couldn't do much damage a few meters farther away, could they? Let's see, there's 254 millimeters in an inch, so one of these tiny "ball bearings" would be less than 1/500th of an inch in diameter. You're getting down to microscopic, here.

25.437xxxmm per inch.

[Tanlic]

Amongst the materials found, some ball-bearings, a tool kit, and some machinery!

He sure as hell wasn't fixing his bicycle

[Kannikapor88]

Well they were under pressure to arrest somebody... anybody. Now they just have to plant and fabricate evidence. Case solved.

Kind of inflammatory, Sherlock. I wouldn't say that in public

+1 it only takes one aggroTV member to forward that post to the authorities

Are you ex Gestapo, FSB or Securitate ... or you just like to threaten other people ...

[Siripon]

Stacks of identical blue Turkish passports were found inside the apartment. They are all thought to be forgeries similar to the passport found on the suspect

Suggests that this is related more to human trafficking than terrorism, not that they are mutually exclusive.

Thanks for your contribution as it is quite relevant and indicates that Thailand's notoriety as a human trafficking is front page again. In case anyone forgets, several years ago Australia and Canada were plagued by bogus Sri Lankan refugees using Bangkok as a transit point. Many of the "refugees" were linked to the Tamil Tigers a known violent terrorist group. The Australian and Canadian investigators kept identifying false travel documents sourced in Thailand, including large numbers of passports. As the beloved Yogi Berra said, it looks like deja vu all over again.

Maybe fake Turkish passports for Uyghur refugees hoping to get to Turkey or another country, and then anger at the returning to China of the Uyghur refugees, hence the bombs.