Bangkok Bomb Attack: Suspect Yusufu Mieraili Gave Device to Bomber
Yusufu Mieraili, a key suspect in the last month’s Bangkok shrine bombing, has confessed to giving a bag containing a device to the man who carried out the attack, Thai police say.
National police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri’s announcement came as Yusufu Mieraili was taken to a train station in Bangkok to re-enact the alleged handover.
The August 17 bomb attack at the Erawan Shrine killed 20 people.
Two foreign men are in custody, but the bomber himself has not been found.
The man, wearing a yellow T-shirt, was seen placing a backpack at the popular shrine and leaving, shortly before the explosion.
Prawut Thawornsiri told reporters at the Hua Lamphong station in Bangkok: “This is the area where he met the man in a yellow shirt to exchange the backpack.”
“Yusufu said the backpack that he carried was heavy and it was a bomb,” he said.
The suspect had allegedly told police that he travelled to the station from an apartment in the outskirts of Bangkok where police had found bomb-making materials in an earlier raid.
Yusufu Mieraili, who has not been charged, was intercepted earlier this month as he attempted to cross the border into Cambodia.
Police have not confirmed his nationality but say he was carrying a Chinese passport.
Yusufu Mieraili was also taken to the Erawan Shrine as part of a police re-enactment, according to AP news agency.
On September 8, the suspect was taken to visit apartments in other parts of Bangkok where police said they found the bomb-making materials as well as passports.
Thailand’s police regularly conduct re-enactments with suspects, a practice which has been criticized as implying guilt before trial.
The other man in custody has been named by local media as Adem Karadag.
Local media have quoted police sources as saying that they are hunting for the alleged mastermind of the attack, who is thought to have left Thailand a day before the attack.
Police also released a photo of the man, who was named as 27-year-old Abudureheman Abudusataer, also known as “Izan” or “Ishan”.