Evidence at guards' homes linked to Samui car bomb
THREE MALL GUARDS HELD AFTER GIVING CONFLICTING STATEMENTS TO POLICE; NOW IN MILITARY CUSTODY
POLICE found evidence during a search of three homes belonging to security guards working at Central Festival on Koh Samui that they believe is linked to the car-bomb attack on the shopping mall on Friday night.
The three guards were detained yesterday for questioning by a military team appointed by the Fourth Army Region commander after police said they gave conflicting and suspicious statements about the incident.
Investigators brought sniffer dogs to the guards’ homes at Koh Samui and found some components they believed were used to assemble the bomb.
They also collected DNA from the three guards and the results, which will determine if the men were involved in the attack, will be known in a few days.
The military team interrogating the guards suspected that the trio might be involved in the crime because of their suspicious testimonies.
A map of the department store and other evidence was also found during the search of their homes.
Meanwhile, Surat Thani police are going through criminal-record files in an attempt to identify people captured on a surveillance camera travelling to the island in two vehicles on the morning of the bombing.
Maj-General Somchai Nittayaborwornkul, deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region Eight, said officers would gather more evidence before issuing an arrest warrant for a man in a blue shirt suspected of driving the pickup used in the attack to the car park where the bomb was detonated. Security cameras captured his image as he left the car park.
Somchai said police had checked 80 per cent of the 123 security cameras at the department store.
Deputy Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said that after obtaining evidence and interviewing witnesses, police believed the perpetrators staged the attack in a bid to mislead the public into thinking it was part of the southern insurgency.
Sansern said the method for stealing the pickup used in the attack from Yala’s Yaha district was different from the insurgents’ technique. “The way the thieves tied up the driver before stealing the pickup was suspicious,” he said.
Sansern said security officials suspected old political powers masterminded the attack. This is thought to refer to the political clique ousted by the coup.
“They distorted or diverted attention to make us believe the bomb was part of the insurgency. They could not mislead us,” he said.
Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdej Sitabutr, who is also Army chief, said he did not believe that the bomb attack was aimed at spreading insurgency outside the deep South.
He said police had not ruled out a personal conflict as being behind the attack, noting that the mall had recently laid off workers.
He said this personal-conflict theory carried as much weight as the political-motivation theory.
Asked if the attackers wanted to challenge the government after it invoked Article 44 of the provisional charter, Udomdej said some groups who did not understand the need for the law might be upset.
Provincial Police Region Eight Commissioner Lt-General Decha Butnampet said the transfer of Koh Samui-based Bo Phut Police Station superintendent Colonel Thewet Pluemsut to Chumphon after the bomb attack was for the sake of convenience.
“He has not been permanently transferred out of the area but only temporarily so investigators can work more conveniently,” he said. No further explanation was given.
Decha said investigators suspected that a person who bought a ferry ticket to travel to Koh Samui was connected with locals who served as lookouts during the attack.
He said one of the three security guards being questioned was assigned to guard the car park a few days before the attack.
Somchai said police had summoned eight former Central Festival workers for questioning.
A taxi driver was questioned after witnesses said that when a suspect left the store a taxi was parked nearby, he said.
Political activist Suriyasai Katasila said the car-bombing was more complicated than attacks staged earlier because it appeared the incident was the work of extremists linked to the “old political powers” and southern insurgents.
He called on the government to work more proactively.
