Bangkok bomb attack suspects Adem Karadag and Yusufu Mieraili have been forced to reenact their alleged role in bombing the Erawan Shrine, Thai police say.
Such re-enactments are standard police procedure in Thailand.
Earlier police said one of the men, named as Adem Karadag, was suspected of planting the bomb in the attack on August 17, contradicting what they had previously said.
The motive for the bombing, which killed 20 people, remains unclear.
Fourteen foreigners were among those killed.
Authorities now say they have enough evidence to prosecute the two men and say that Adem Karadag has confessed.
This contradicts earlier statements from police that neither of two men were the main suspects for the attack.
Adem Karadag, who has also been named as Bilal Mohammed, was arrested in late August in a raid on a flat on the eastern outskirts of Bangkok. His lawyer says he was not in Thailand at the time of the attack.
Police have released warrants for a total of 17 people over charges stemming from the attack.
The suspects are believed to carrying Chinese, Thai, Turkish and Pakistani passports, though their exact origins are unclear as some are thought to be using fake documents.
Many of the suspects named by Thai police have Muslim-sounding names, prompting speculation that they may be linked to jihadist networks or to Uighur separatist militants from China.
However, the police have not suggested that the attack was politically motivated.
The Erawan shrine – with its four-faced golden statue of the Hindu god Brahma – is considered sacred by Thai Buddhists, and attracts many foreign visitors.
Adem Karadag, who was arrested in Thailand over a deadly bombing at Bangkok’s Erawan shrine in August is indeed the bomber, say Thai police contradicting earlier statements.
A police spokesman said the man Adem Karadag was the figure in a yellow shirt seen on CCTV leaving a bag at the Erawan shrine.
Thai police had earlier said neither of two men in their custody were the main suspects for the August 17 attack.
The motive for the bombing, which killed 20 people, remains unclear.
Fourteen foreigners were among those killed.
Police have released warrants for a total of 17 people over charges stemming from the attack.
The suspects are believed to carrying Chinese, Thai, Turkish and Pakistani passports, though their exact origins are unclear as some are thought to be using fake documents.
Adem Karadag, who has also been named as Bilal Mohammed, was arrested in late August in a raid on a flat on the eastern outskirts of Bangkok.
Thai police had said DNA samples taken from him did not match the DNA found on evidence that the bomber is believed to have left behind on the night of the attack.
Police also appeared to rule out that a second man in their custody – identified as Yusufu Mieraili – was a main suspect in the attack.
However, on September 25, police spokesman Prawut Thornsiri said one of the warrants issued was for “Bilal Mohammed, who is the man in yellow who placed the rucksack at the Erawan shrine”.
“All the information we have leads back to him.”
Many of the suspects named by Thai police have Muslim-sounding names, prompting speculation that they may be linked to jihadist networks or to Uighur separatist militants from China.
However, the police have not suggested that the attack was politically motivated.
The Erawan shrine – centered around a four-faced golden statue of the Hindu god Brahma – is considered sacred by Thai Buddhists, and attracts many foreign visitors.
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.”
Photo Reuters
“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”.
Thai police have charged a suspect, who was named on a fake Turkish passport as Adem Karadag, in connection with the bomb attack that killed 20 people in Bangkok about two weeks ago.
Officers say the suspect, who was charged with illegal possession of weapons, was involved in the attack.
However, they say he is not the man seen on CCTV footage leaving a bag at the Erawan Shrine before the explosion.
The bomb tore through the crowded shrine on August 17, injuring more than 100, mostly tourists.
The man, who was described as a 28-year-old foreigner by police, was arrested in Nong Jok on the outskirts of Bangkok on August 29.
Thai army chief General Udomdej Sitabutr said the man had so far not co-operated with investigators.
“We have to conduct further interrogations and make him better understand so he will be more co-operative – while we have to be careful not to violate the suspect’s rights,” he told the AFP news agency on August 30.
The man’s nationality has not been confirmed but local reports suggest he could be from Turkey. Police said they found a large number of forged Turkish passports at his apartment.
Bomb-making materials also discovered in the property included ball bearings and piping, similar to what was used in the shrine attack, police said.
Police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said the man “is a culprit in the same network” as those behind the blast.
However, national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang downplayed any suggestion that the suspect was connected to terrorism.
“He is a foreigner, but it’s unlikely he is an international terrorist. It’s a personal feud,” Somyot Pumpanmuang told a televised news conference.
“He got angry on behalf of his friends and family members,” he added without elaborating.
Meanwhile, Thai police have faced criticism for an image of a suicide bomb vest that was shown on television during the national broadcast announcing the suspect’s arrest on August 29.
The image caused a stir on social media and police later said it had nothing to do with the bombing or the suspect. Thailand’s ruling military accused broadcast media of inserting the erroneous picture.
A reward of one million Thai baht ($28,000) has been offered for information related to the Erawan Shrine attack.
Police released a photofit of the man seen leaving a bag at the site shortly before the blast, showing the suspect with dark hair and glasses.
Officials said at the time of the attack that they suspected it had been planned a month or more in advance and involved at least 10 people.
Erawan shrine is a popular destination for Chinese and Thai tourists.
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