Fingerprints On Bomb Making Materials Match Suspect's - Thai Police

BANGKOK, Sept 3 (Bernama) -- The fingerprints of the second suspect in the Bangkok bomb attack who was arrested near the Thai-Cambodia border Tuesday matched those found in one of the rooms raided by police in Nong Chok district in Bangkok last Saturday. The suspect's fingerprints matched those found on the explosive component found in the rented room number 414, one of five rooms that had been rented by the first suspect, said Thai police spokesman Lt General Prawuth Thavornsiri in a National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) televised briefing around noon. Meanwhile, Royal Thai Police chief, General Somyot Pumpanmuang said the suspect was captured by Thai authorities at Parai village in Aranyaprathet district of Sakeaw province bordering Cambodia. He said this at a media conference after being asked about the location of the arrest. Newspapers in Cambodia had reported that the suspect was arrested in Cambodia. He said the authorities had yet to confirm the identity of the suspect with the help of an embassy here. He added that police had yet to ascertain whether the suspect is the same person in yellow shirt captured in CCTV just before the bomb blast at the Ratchaprasong intersection in central Bangkok last month. In the CCTV image, a man in yellow shirt was seen leaving a backpack at the blast site. Somyot said he had already contacted the Thai embassy in Turkey about the request by a woman suspect who was said to be in Turkey and wanted to come back to Thailand to clear her name. He said the woman, Wanna Suansan, 26, already contacted Thai police about coming back to Thailand but there has not been any confirmation about the date of her return or if anybody would accompany her. He advised her to contact Thai embassy officials in Turkey if she is really in Turkey. Meanwhile, deputy police chief General Jakthip Chaijaida said the investigation into the Bangkok bomb attacks is now 70 per cent. As for the identity of the second suspect, he said the authorities were still determining the authenticity of his identification documents. "Based on the passport, he is Uighur Muslim, but we still need to wait for the document identification," he told the media after being asked to confirm whether the suspect is a Muslim Uighur. The police are careful when mentioning the nationality of the suspects, mindful of the possible international repercussions, although social media users in Thailand had been quick to link the second suspect as a Muslim Uighur from Xinjiang, China. The suspect's passport information went viral in the social media following police announcement of the arrest of a Chinese national named Mieraili Yusufu, 25, from Xinjiang province, China. Thailand's move early this year to deport a group of Uighur Muslims from the Turkic ethnic group, resulted in protests at the Thai embassy and consulate in Turkey. --BERNAMA