Bangkok bomber admits to involvement
Print Edition
The foreigner accused of planting a bomb at a Bangkok shrine has admitted involvement in the deadly attack, his lawyer said yesterday, reversing earlier denials of a confession.
Attorney Schoochart Kanpai confirmed the Thai authorities’ version of the investigation into the August 17 blast, which killed 20 people.
Earlier this week Schoochart had questioned whether the man, whom police have named both as Bilal Mohammed and as Adem Karadag, had confessed.
The lawyer said his client had previously insisted he was not in the country on the day of the attack, but after a meeting yesterday, Schoochart reversed his position.
“I met Adem this morning ... and he said he confessed voluntarily to planting the bomb,” the lawyer said outside the military barracks in central Bangkok where the accused is detained.
Police earlier said they were convinced that Mohammed, the first person to be arrested, was the same man seen in CCTV footage wearing a yellow T-shirt and placing a backpack at the Erawan shrine moments before the explosion.
His confession, together with other security camera footage and eyewitness accounts, confirmed they had the right man, they said, after earlier saying that DNA evidence suggested it was unlikely to be him.
Police said they believe the man in the yellow shirt wore a wig and glasses as a disguise.
In a briefing on Monday, investigators released a series of four sketches showing how Mohammed could have transformed his appearance.
In other new details of the still unclaimed attack, Schoochart said that Mohammed relayed how he followed orders from another man, Abdulah Abdullahman, and was unpaid.
Abdullahman is among a dozen — both foreigners and Thais — wanted over the blast. Only two — Mohammed and another man named as Yusuf Mieraili — are in custody.
According to his lawyer, Mohammed is a Chinese Uygur who settled in Turkey while Mieraili is a Chinese passport-holder with Uygur ethnicity.
Thai authorities have not confirmed the nationality of either man. They said earlier they believe the blast was revenge for a crackdown on people-smuggling gangs whose operations include the transfer of Uygurs.
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